Dr Charlotte Wright, a senior lecturer at Newcastle University and community paediatrician at Gateshead Health trust, with a 24-hour-old recruit to her millennium baby study. The project will follow 1,000 babies - about half of those born in Gateshead each year - for their first 12 months, looking at how their feeding develops over time and how this affects growth. The project aims to improve the care of infants and mothers.

'The study will help us to recognise the early warning signs in problems of feeding and growth,' said Dr Wright. Linked studies will examine common childhood problems, such as iron deficiency and infections.