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:
- Health Canada
- Dietitians of Canada
- Indigenous Services Canada
- Canadian Paediatric Society
- Public Health Agency of Canada
- Breastfeeding Committee for Canada
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.