Timely
At six months, infants’ energy and nutrient needs begin to exceed those provided by breast milk alone, signalling when they may be ready for other foods. According to global recommendations, infants should gradually introduce themselves to new foods while continuing frequent, on-demand breastfeeding until two years of age. The aim of this paper is to synthesize new emerging evidence on complementary food selection and consumption among breastfed and non-breastfed children in LMICs.
Responsive
Over the past 20 years, many nutrition programs have implemented responsive feeding recommendations into their programming. One such example is when responsive feeding was added to the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses card in 2000 and now forms part of CARE nutrition counseling module for low and middle income countries (LMICs). Recommendations are age-based and include messages on breastfeeding on demand; providing food when energy or nutritional needs exceed what can be met solely through breast milk alone; encouraging finger foods; and eliminating distractions during mealtimes (1). These guidelines need local adaptation in order to identify context-specific issues and provide guidance for program implementation and implementation (1).
