April 2014
News Release: Updated Recommendations for Health Professionals on Infant and Young Child Nutrition - Revised guidance aims to ensure health professionals have the most current information for parents and caregivers
Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants provides healthcare professionals with clear recommendations on what to feed healthy term infants and young children (aged 6 to 24 months old). These guidelines reflect the latest science and practice on nutrition for healthy term infants and young children, and provide guidance for health professionals to help support parents and caregivers on infant and young child nutrition.
Health Canada encourages parents and caregivers to ask their healthcare providers about these recommendations.
Following are some of the key recommendations:
- Breastfeeding: Breastfeed exclusively for the first six months, and continue for up to two years or longer with appropriate complementary feeding.
- Vitamin D: Provide a daily vitamin D supplement of 10 µg (400 IU) for infants and young children who are breastfed or receiving breast milk.
- Complementary foods: Provide a variety of complementary foods along with continued breastfeeding to meet the nutrient and energy needs of older infants.
- Responsive feeding: Encourage responsive feeding based on the child's hunger and satiety cues, to promote the development of healthy eating skills.
- Iron-rich complementary foods: Provide a variety of iron-rich meat, meat alternatives, and iron-fortified cereal as the first complementary foods, to avoid iron deficiency.
- Food Safety: Foods for older infants and young children must be prepared, served, and stored safely.
- Health Eating: From one year of age, young children should begin to have a regular schedule of meals and snacks, and generally follow the advice in Canada's Food Guide.
- Breast milk substitutes: For an older infant or young child who is not breastfed or receiving breast milk, provide commercial infant formula until nine to 12 months of age.
For more information:
