Complementary feeding practices among infants and young children in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Complementary feeding practices among infants and young children in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Zainab Taha1* , Malin Garemo1 and Joy Nanda2
Abstract Background: Optimal complementary feeding (CF) promotes health and supports growth and development in children. While suboptimal feeding practices are reported for many countries, very limited information exists about such practices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The present study describes CF practices in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and evaluates them using the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Programming Guide: Infant and Young Child Feeding. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, participating mothers of children below the age of two reported on their children’s CF introduction and practices via a structured questionnaire. The study received ethical approval (ZU17_ 006_F) from Zayed University. Results: Out of 1822 participating mothers, 938 had initiated complementary feeding for their children, who had a mean age of 7.1 ± 5.9 months. Three quarters of the children (72.2%) were introduced to CF in a timely manner between the ages of 6 and 9 months. A majority (71.4%) consumed ≥4 food groups, i.e. the recommended minimum diet diversity. In total, less than half (47.3%) of the children met the requirements for minimum meal frequency, with the non-breastfed, 6–23 month old children being the least compliant (21.9%) (p < 0.001). Many children were fed with sugar-containing snack items. Overall, 36.2% of the children aged ≥6 months had a minimum acceptable diet. Conclusion: The gap between the suboptimal CF practices and the recommendations may be attributable to poor knowledge about feeding practices rather than food availability problems. Effective intervention programs can facilitate improvements in the feeding practices to better support a healthy upbringing among Abu Dhabi infants and toddlers. Keywords: Complementary feeding, Infant nutrition, Toddler, Socio-economics, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Background Adequate breastfeeding and optimal complementary feeding promote health, support growth and enhance the development of infants [1, 2]. Conversely, suboptimal complementary feeding practices can negatively impact the growth of infants and young children and contribute to * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Health Sciences, CNHS, Zayed University, PO Box 144534, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
health-related problems such as delayed motor and cognitive development, nutrient deficiencies or malnutrition [3]. Complementary feeding is defined as the process starting when breast milk alone is no longer sufficient to meet infants’ nutritional requirements, resulting in the need for other foods and liquids along with breast milk [1, 4]. According to the UNICEF Programming Guide: Infant and Young Child Feeding, appropriate complementary feeding includes timely introduction of complementary feeding, diet diversity and meal frequency [5].
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