Draft nutrition for healthy term infants - Recommendations from birth to six months: Overview

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Introduction

Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants is a joint statement of the Canadian Paediatric Society, Dietitians of Canada, Breastfeeding Committee for Canada, Indigenous Services Canada, Health Canada, and Public Health Agency of Canada. The objective of this statement is to provide health professionals and policy makers with evidence-informed guidelines on infant nutrition. Provinces, territories, and health organizations can use these guidelines as a basis for developing practical feeding guidelines for parents and caregivers in Canada.

Breastfeeding – or human milk feeding – is important for the nutrition, immune protection, growth, and development of infants and young children. Recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months. Recommend continued breastfeeding for two years and beyond with appropriate complementary feeding.

These are guidelines on nutrition for young healthy term infants (birth to six months of age). Nutrition guidelines for older infants and young children (six to 24 months of age) is covered in a separate but complementary statement.

For information and ideas about how to answer questions from parents and caregivers, see: In Practice - Talking with families about nutrition for infants.

Some infants may not be exclusively breastfed for medical, personal, or social reasons. Their families need support to optimize the infant's nutritional well-being. The International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes advises health professionals to inform parents about the importance of breastfeeding; the personal, social, and economic costs of formula feeding; and the difficulty of reversing the decision not to breastfeed. Individually counsel families who have made a fully informed choice not to breastfeed on the use of human milk substitutes.

Abbreviations

Short form
Description
25(OH)D
25-hydroxyvitamin D
AAP
American Academy of Pediatrics
ART
Antiretroviral therapy
BFI
Baby-Friendly Initiative
BFHI
Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative
BCC
Breastfeeding Committee for Canada
CAN-ADAPTT
Canadian Action Network for the Advancement, Dissemination and Adoption of Practice-informed Tobacco Treatment
CCSA
Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
CDC
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CPS
Canadian Paediatric Society
DGAC
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
DC
Dietitians of Canada
FNFNES
First Nations Food, Nutrition & Environment Study
GERD
Gastroesophageal reflux disease
HBV
Hepatitis B virus
HCV
Hepatitis C virus
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
HMBANA
Human Milk Bank Association of North America
IOM
Institute of Medicine, now known as National Academy of Medicine
IU
International Unit
µg
Microgram
NASEM
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Nmol/L
Nanomoles per litre
NHLBI
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
NHP
Natural health products
NHTI
Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants
NHMRC
National Health and Medical Research Council
NNR
Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
SOGC
Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada
THC
Tetrahydrocannabinol
UL
Tolerable upper intake level
USDA
United States Department of Agriculture
UNICEF
United Nations Children's Fund
WHA
World Health Assembly
WHO
World Health Organization

Acknowledgements

The Infant Feeding Joint Working Group, a collaboration between the Government of Canada and national organizations, revised these guidelines. Members of the working group came from:

Participants on the Infant Feeding Joint Working Group: Heidi Boyd (Breastfeeding Committee for Canada), Subhadeep Chakrabarti (Health Canada), Patricia D'Onghia (Health Canada), Kimberley Hernandez (Health Canada), Alex Lacarte (Dietitians of Canada), Jennifer McCrea (Health Canada), Carley Nicholson (Public Health Agency of Canada), Brigitte Pereira (Indigenous Services Canada), Huma Rana (Health Canada), Ana Maria Sant'Anna (Canadian Paediatric Society), Mélanie Stanton (Health Canada).

A note on inclusive language

The terms 'woman', 'people', 'mother' and 'birthing parent' are used in Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants to be inclusive of the lived and living experiences of women and gender diverse individuals. Some parents might prefer language that is not gendered. It is important for health care providers to ask families how they prefer to be identified. Learn more about using inclusive language when communicating with parents about infant nutrition.

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2025-08-19