Nutrition for healthy term infants

Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants is the new national statement on nutrition for infants from birth to 24 months, developed collaboratively by the Canadian Paediatric Society, Dietitians of Canada and Health Canada.The document summarizes the existing scientific literature on infant nutrition and presents principles and recommendations to help health care professionals promote optimal, evidence-based nutritional care for infants in Canada. Collaboration between the three key organizations involved in infant nutrition has produced unified messages for health professionals to deliver to the public.FOR THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE FOUR MAJOR TOPICS ARE DISCUSSED: Breastfeeding, Alternate Milks, Other Fluids in Infant Feeding and Transition to Solid Foods. Safety Issues Around Feeding is presented next, followed by Nutrition in the Second Year of Life. The final section covers Other Issues in Infant Nutrition, and includes topics such as food allergies, colic, constipation, dietary fat, dental caries, gastroenteritis, diabetes, iron deficiency anemia and vegetarian diets. An extensive reference list of more than 200 citations is provided.The Summary of Principles and Recommendations will be published in the official journals of the Canadian Paediatric Society (Paediatrics & Child Health, March/April 1998) and Dietitians of Canada (Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, June 1998). The complete document can be downloaded from all three of the collaborating organizations' web sites or a hard copy of the Statement, in either official language, can be obtained from the Canadian Paediatric Society, Dietitians of Canada or Health Canada.Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants offers multidisciplinary health professionals the most current scientific tool for advising parents and positively influencing the nutritional environment provided to infants in Canada.