الفهرس يوجد فقط 14 صفحة متاحة للعرض العام
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المستخلص
Breast feeding is the best nutrition to be given to the infant, since it provides nutritional, immunological and psychological benefits to the infants which extended to childhood and further beyond the adult life.
The introduction to solid feeding and the gradual replacement of milk by solid food as the main source of nutrition is the process known as weaning. In its last publications the WHO uses the term weaning in a more limited sense to indicate complete cessation of breast feeding.
Complementary feeding is the provision of any nutrient containing foods or liquids other than breast milk and includes both solid food and infant formula. In the UK the terms ”weaning” and ”complementary feeding” are sometimes used synonymously to mean infant solid feeding.
In the first year of life, infants undergo periods of rapid growth when good nutrition is crucial. In fact, nutrition in the early years of life is a major determinant of healthy growth and development throughout childhood and of good health in adulthood. Pediatricians and nutritionists have established nutritional guidelines to meet the specific needs of these early years. Recommendations that breast milk should be given exclusively for about the first 6 months and that complementary food should be introduced after this time are based on issues related to nutritional need, physiological maturation, behavioural and developmental aspects of feeding, immunological safety and environmental influences. Most evidence suggests that introduction before 2-3 months or later than 6 months has more risks than benefits.
Individual infants may have unique needs or feeding behaviours that may require introduction of complementary foods as early as 4 months of age.