Importance Of Weaning

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Introduction
The term weaning means “getting accustomed to “[2]. UNICEF defined weaning as systematic process of introduction of suitable milk in order to provide the needs of nutrients to the baby[2]. The term weaning is now replaced by the term complementary feeding and is defined as providing nutrient containing foods and drinks along with human breast milk and includes both solids foods and infant formula[3].
An important milestone in an infant’s life, the period of weaning is often marked by malnourishment and infections. This period is considered as the most crucial and vulnerable period and it last for 6-24 months of age. Proper nutrition during this period ensures proper growth of the child whereas wrong feeding practices can lead
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The aspect of complementary feeding is highly crucial as it is having far reaching consequences. The percentage of children who suffers from malnourishment, deficiency diseases, growth faltering etc are are high in India and proper infant feeding practices are the only way to address this [19] In Spite of the great efforts to create awareness among mothers with respect to proper infant feeding practices, complementary feeding still remains as an area of controversy and dilemma. Infant feeding practices in communities are shaped by their beliefs which are influenced by social, cultural and economic factors often resulting in inappropriate feeding practices leading to under nutrition and growth faltering Cultures, traditional beliefs and myths too has a great influence on this aspect. Trends of early and late weaning still persists and lack of awareness regarding the nutritional quality of foods results in wrong food …show more content…
It was conducted among 118 mothers who attended the immunization unit of Govt. Ayurveda college, Poojappura.
Primary data was collected from mothers of infants of age group 3 months to 12 months, who started weaning their infants. Their awareness and practices regarding infant feeding practices were assessed using pre-tested questionnaire. The lower limit was kept as 3 months to get samples who started early weaning. The upper limit was kept as 12 months so as to avoid recollection error. The study was conducted for six consecutive Wednesdays, as the immunization unit works on all

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