Improving Maternal and Infant Nutrition: A Framework for Action

3. Water should be added to the bottle first before adding the powdered infantformula.3.31 Only 10% of mothers using infant formula in Scotland followed all theserecommendations.3.32 The Food Standards Agency states that follow-on formula is not necessary inthe infant’s diet at any stage and instead full fat cows’ milk should gradually beintroduced into the diet from 12 months of age. 67 Follow-on milks are designed andpromoted to be used between formula milk and the introduction of cows’ milk at 12months of age. Although follow-on milk is not suitable for infants under six months ofage (as it is difficult for the infant to digest), 10% of mothers in Scotland had givenfollow-on milk to their infant before this stage.Complementary Feeding (Introduction of Solid Foods)3.33 There is a general shift towards mothers introducing solid foods into theinfant’s diet at a later stage which may have a beneficial effect on future levels ofobesity in children (Figure 7). By four months of age 60% of mothers in Scotlandparticipating in the Infant Feeding Survey had introduced solids into their infant’s dietin 2005 compared with 83% in 2000 and 91% in 1995. By five months of age 85% ofmothers in Scotland had introduced solids into their infant’s diet in 2005 comparedwith 98% in 2000.Figure 7: Percentage of Mothers who had Introduced solids at 4 Months of Ageby UK Country, 1995 to 2005Source: Infant Feeding Survey 20053.34 While these results show a general shift towards mothers following therevised WHO guidelines, only 2% of mothers in the UK in 2005 waited until sixmonths of age before introducing solid foods into the infant’s diet. 30 The nature andtiming of weaning varies by the mother’s socio-economic status with deprivationhaving a strong predictive effect on weaning before four months 31 . The InfantFeeding Survey found that women in managerial/professional occupations were