Literature review for - Flourish Paediatrics

PAHO Guiding Principles for Complementary Feeding of the Breastfed Child
Originally written by Kathryn
Dewey forr the WHO Global Consultation onn Complementary
Feeding, December 10-13, 2001.
Complementary feeding is defined as thee process starting when breastmilk k alone is no
longer
sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of infants, and therefore other foods and
liquids are needed,
along with
breast milk. The target age rangee for complementary feeding is
generally taken to be 6 to 24 months of age, even though breastfeeding may
continue beyond
two years.
The Expert Consultation observed that, on a population basis, there is no adverse effect of
exclusive breastfeeding for six
months onn infant growth. The nutrient needs of full-term,
normal birth weight infants typically can be met by human milkk alone for the first 6 months if
the mother is well nourished (WHO/UNI(
ICEF, 1998) ). However, , in certain circumstances,
some of
the micronutrients may become limiting before 6 months. In the case of iron, the
infant’s
reserves at
birth play a major rolee in determining the risk for anemia during infancy
becausee the iron concentrationn of human milk is low. Normal birth weight infants whose
mothers
had good prenatal iron status usually have adequate liver iron reserves, and thus the
risk of iron deficiency before six months is low.
Low birth weight infants and infants i of mothers with
prenatal iron deficiency may be at risk
of iron deficiency. For prevention of ironn deficiency
among infants at risk prior to six
months, complementary foodss are not likely to be as
effective as a medicinall iron drops
(Dewey
et al., 1998; Domellof et al., 2001).)
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