As a parent, are you ready to provide the best for your baby’s health and nutrient needs? Journey with us through the last part of the First 1000 Days!

The First 1000 Days consists of 270 days for the entire duration of pregnancy, 180 days from birth up to six months or infancy, and 550 days from 6 months up to 23 months or older infancy. This period is considered as the golden window of opportunity for lifelong health and productivity.

Six months to 2 years of age is a critical period of a child’s life wherein nutrient deficiencies and illnesses during this stage can contribute significantly to overnutrition or undernutrition, particularly stunting. To protect our children for malnutrition, appropriate complementary feeding is a proven intervention to reduce stunting during the first two years of life.

The World Health Organization recommends to start complementary feeding at 6 months of age. At this period, breastmilk alone no longer meets the nutritional needs of the infant, so complementary foods should be added. To know how much a child should receive a complementary food, there is what we call the “minimum dietary diversity” or MDD. It consists of eight (8) food groups namely: 1) grains, roots and tubers; 2) legumes and nuts; 3) dairy products such as milk, yogurt and cheese; 4) animal sources (meat, fish, poultry, liver or other organs); 5) eggs; 6) vitamin A-rich fruits like ripe mango, papaya or banana and vegetables; 7) other fruits and vegetables; and 8) breastmilk. The child must at least consume 4 or more these food groups.

Appropriate complementary feeding has four components with its acronym “D-DULA” which means dami, dalas, uri, lapot and aktibong pagpapakain:

• Frequency and amount (Dalas at Dami) - introduction of complementary foods should only begin at six months, not too early and not too late. The Minimum Meal Frequency or MMF explains how frequent the baby eats. Twice for the breastfeed infants aged 6 months; four times for breastfeed children aged 6-9 months, children aged 9-12 months, five times per day. The baby's digestive system is ready to receive additional food other than breastmilk at this stage. The infant shall receive an adequate amount of food to provide sufficient energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals for growth and development.
• Variety (Uri) - variety of foods should be given to infants to provide an adequate diet. To reiterate, 4 kinds of foods out of the 8 groups identified above should be the goal for MDD.
• Texture (Lapot) – When you first feed your baby with foodstuff, complementary food should be soft, easy to digest, thick, and nutrient-dense. Babies 6 months old should be given lugaw or rice porridge where it should be thick, doesn’t flow easily and sticks when scooped by a spoon. Viscous texture is attributed to high nutrient density. As he/she grows older, the texture of complementary food progresses with the introduction of other food groups in the baby's diet. Aside from nutrient adequacy, varying textures and color in food allow the baby to explore his/her senses and develop motor skills.
• Safe (Ligtas) - Food safety and sanitation should be appropriately observed by caregivers when preparing complementary food, including all utensils and ingredients. Parents should observe the correct cooking method to ensure that food is cooked evenly at the right time and temperature. During feeding, both hands of the baby and the person feeding him/her should be washed clean as well as the container and other feeding paraphernalia. Leftover food should not be given to the baby to prevent the risk of foodborne illnesses or infections. Baby must have a separate plate or saucer during mealtimes. This will enable the parent or caregiver to measure the amount of food consumed by the baby.
• Active feeding (Aktibong pagpapakain) - Complementary feeding should be a fun and learning activity for both the caregiver and child. Caregiver should observe hunger cues and satiety signals when feeding the baby, check their facial expression or mood swings. The baby should be fed slowly, patiently, and without distractions or toys beside him/her. Feeding time is different from playtime. The caregiver should actively interact with the baby by talking and early education like introducing colors and shapes. Feeding children should not be a form of fear of punishment, but instead a time of love.

Too early introduction of complementary food (at 4 or 5 months) can lead to decreased demand for breastmilk and less supply from the mother which results to poor infant nutrition, while late introduction (at 7 or 8 months) exposes the child to increased risk for being underweight or wasted and stunted. Unsafe preparation increases risk for infections and diarrhea.

Preparing food for the baby needs creativity skills. For more recipe tips, the Department of Science and Technology – Food and Nutrition Research Institute produced the 2021 Menu Guide Calendar that offers recipes for complementary feeding for infants and young children 6-23 months old. Moreover, the joy that a child gives when he/she enjoys his/her food is satisfying to see. Mothers should know that they are not alone, all fathers and the rest of the members of the family are included in rearing a child. It is a shared responsibility which supports the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood including the mother. (NO I Vazamija Therese A. Villasi, RND)

References:

National Nutrition Council. (2021) Nutrition Month talking points. Retrieved on 24 August 2021 from https://www.nnc.gov.ph/downloads/category/224-2021-nutrition-month

World Health Organization. (n.d). Infant and young child feeding. Retrieved on 24 August 2021 from https://www.who.int/data/nutrition/nlis/info/infant-and-young-child-feeding