Protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding practices and the introduction of complementary foods

Breastfeeding is the gold standard of optimal nutrition and largely determines the health of the child not only at an early age, but also in subsequent periods of his life. Due to the optimal composition of breast milk, the child forms such features of lipid, carbohydrate, mineral and energy metabolism, which provide not only the best conditions for physical and intellectual development of the child, but also its social adaptation. Prolonged breastfeeding reduces the subsequent risk of developing socially significant diseases such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Since the 1970s, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) have been active in reviving the culture of breastfeeding. In 1989, they developed a joint declaration Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding Practices: the Special Role of Obstetric Services, which is based on Ten Principles of Successful Breastfeeding (training of medical personnel, antenatal preparation of pregnant women for breastfeeding, early breastfeeding in the delivery room, keeping mother and baby together and feeding a healthy baby on demand, helping mothers in difficult situations, exclusive breastfeeding, informing mothers about the dangers of pacifiers in initiating breastfeeding, follow-up assistance to mothers after discharge from the maternity hospital). The duration of exclusive breastfeeding (feeding only breast milk) is important for the health of the infant. According to the 2003 WHO recommendations, which are reflected in the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, exclusive breastfeeding should last 6 months. The national program for optimizing the feeding of children of the first year of life in the Russian Federation (2009, 2019) defines recommended periods of exclusive breastfeeding in the range of 4-6 months, and they depend on the health status of the infant. Modern industrially produced complementary foods are created taking into account the principles of healthy eating and contribute to the formation of proper nutritional behavior in children from an early age, which undoubtedly has a favorable effect on the child’s health in the future.

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