Never blow

CEBU, Philippines - Nutritionists gave a strong caution about feeding infants: never blow on infant food to keep it cool.

All this time contamination may have been passed on to infants and children because caregivers, nannies and mothers whether rich or poor, living in mansions or in shanties have been in the habit of blowing on baby food to cool it off.

In issuing guidelines on hygienic handling of baby food, nutritionists strongly discouraged blowing on infant food and chewing food first before giving it to the child.

The National Nutrition Council emphasized the call for hygienic food handling as it made an urgent call for complementary feeding for infants at six months and up to two years. In a 2008 National Nutrition Survey, it was found that almost half or 41 percent of infants between 6 to 9 months don’t receive complementary feeding.

Statistics show high level of malnutrition among older children than infants where 38.2 percent of 5-year-olds are undernourished, 34.4 percent of four year olds, 31.8 percent of two year olds, 25.4 percent of one-year olds and 8.2 percent of infants.

Critical Window

The National Nutritional Council has recently called for complementary feeding from six months up to two years to improve nutritional levels of Filipino children. The first two years are considered to be the most critical in the life of a child because it is during this critical window of development that a child goes through optimal growth. It is during these first two years that infants and young children are vulnerable to malnutrition during the transition period from exclusive breastfeeding to complementary feeding.

What happens is that from six months and older, there is a gap between the total energy needs of the baby and energy and nutrients provided by breast milk. As the baby grows, the energy and nutrient gap increases. When breast milk is no longer sufficient, children can become stunted if they are not given sufficient quantities of quality complementary food at six months. Hence six months is the right time to give complementary food.

It is also at six months that the baby’s digestive system is mature enough to digest a range of food. During this time, the baby begins to develop coordination skills to move solid food from front to back of the mouth for ingestion. Control of the baby’s head is improved and they can sit with support. A six-month old baby who looks and grabs food is a sign that the baby is ready to eat.

But then, complementary foods are not to be equated or construed as “weaning foods.” Complementary feeding is not meant to displace breast milk or initiate the withdrawal of breastfeeding.

Recommended complementary foods are energy giving foods like carbohydrates like rice, corn, root crops and fats, body-building foods like protein such as egg and milk products and regulating food like vitamins and minerals.

Don’t force.

No matter how the recommended complementary food is fed to a child, there remains a critical window for malnturition with improper food handling. To take out all risks of contamination, utensils used in preparing food for the child must be clean, water is clean and children should not be fed leftovers.

Other than hygienic handling of complementary foods, nutritionists also cautioned about forcing infants to eat. Forcing a child to eat when the child does not want to is a mistake, nutritionists said. Mothers and caregivers should instead space the time between breastfeeding and mealtime. It is good to give complementary foods only after breastfeeding is done. Another mistake is forcing a child to eat food that the child does not like. Best thing is just to mix the food with flavor that child likes.

Blowing on infant food to keep it cool or forcing a child to eat are practices that have been left unchecked perhaps because parents and nannies may have been complacent about the critical period of development in a child until perhaps something critical happens.