World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recommend exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for six months, i.e. 180 days and addition of complementary foods at six months of age with continued breastfeeding till at least two years.
When breast milk is no longer enough to meet the nutritional needs of the infant, complementary foods should be added to the diet of the child. The transition from exclusive breastfeeding to family foods, referred to as complementary feeding, typically covers the period from 6 to 18-24 months of age, and is a very vulnerable period.
It is the time when malnutrition starts in many infants, contributing significantly to the high prevalence of malnutrition in children less than five years of age world-wide. WHO estimates that 2 out of 5 children are stunted in low-income countries.
Complementary feeding should be timely, meaning that all infants should start receiving foods in addition to breast milk from 6 months onwards.
It should be adequate, meaning that the complementary foods should be given in amounts, frequency and consistency and using a variety of foods to cover the nutritional needs of the growing child while maintaining breastfeeding.
Foods should be prepared and given in a safe manner, meaning that measures are taken to minimize the risk of contamination with pathogens. And they should be given in a way that is appropriate, meaning that foods are of appropriate texture for the age of the child and applying responsive feeding following the principles of psycho-social care.
Breastfeeding is common in developing countries, but exclusive breastfeeding is rare, and complementary foods are introduced at an early age. Poorer nutritional status was significantly associated with earlier complementary feeding. The results suggest that exclusive breastfeeding, (together with promotion of weaning education and growth monitoring) should be vigorously promoted in these developing countries.
Child development experts advise parents not to introduce solid foods, such as baby cereal, into an infant's diet until the infant is at least 4 to 6 months old. The researchers also found that formula-fed infants were much more likely to be given solid foods too early than were breast-fed infants. Health authorities do advise parents to wait until after 4 months because infants aren't developmentally ready to eat solid foods before. There are a number of other reasons why experts don't recommend early feeding. One is that the early introduction of solid foods has been linked to a shorter duration of breast-feeding. Early solid food consumption has also been linked to the development of chronic conditions, such as childhood obesity, celiac disease, diabetes and eczema.
So that we will do this study in our government region to evaluate Complementary feeding practices and their impact on the health status of our infants, we will recruit a cross sectional sample from those who visit our hospital clinics for various reasons such routine check-ups, vaccinations or illness.
