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Choosing right food combo vital: Expert
The National Nutrition Week celebration has commenced on Friday and would continue up to September 7. During the week-long campaign, stress would be laid on the best feeding practices to infants, especially, the importance of breast milk to them, thereby preventing malnutrition.
Hyderabad: The National Nutrition Week celebration has commenced on Friday and would continue up to September 7. During the week-long campaign, stress would be laid on the best feeding practices to infants, especially, the importance of breast milk to them, thereby preventing malnutrition.
Speaking to The Hans India here, Sujatha Stephen, a Nutritionist said that inadequate feeding of girl children also affects nutrient levels, subsequent reproductive health and increase risk of maternal mortality.”
Appropriate complementary feeding involves a combination of practices to maintain breast milk intake and at the same time, improve the quantity and quality of foods children consume,” she said.
Dr Stephen said that after the growth of six months, breast milk becomes no longer sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of infants as they are vulnerable during the transition phase. The infants then require supplementary feeding besides breast feeding.
She said that appropriate supplementary feeding promotes growth and prevents stunting among children between 6 and 24 months. Generally, infants are affected by malnutrition during this period and their consequences persist throughout their lives.
On importance of breastfeeding, the nutritionist said that the period between six to eleven months was especially vulnerable because infants just start learning to eat and must be fed soft foods frequently and patiently. For older infants, toddlers, breast milk continues to be an important source of energy, protein, and micronutrients she said and added therefore, breastfeeding should continue through 24 months and beyond.
Explaining about nutrition, she said micronutrient intake could be increased by diversifying the diet to include fruits, vegetables, animal products, using fortified foods, and giving supplements. Choosing food combinations that enhance micronutrient absorption is also important.
Referring to the World Health Organization (WHO), she said that malnutrition was responsible, directly or indirectly, for over half of all childhood deaths. Supplementary feeding of a baby needs to be done by a parent or caretaker that promoted healthy interaction and stimulation, which is crucial for the growth and development of the baby's brain, she added.
