Complementary Feeding: Review of Recommendations, Feeding Practices, and Adequacy of Homemade Complementary Food Preparations in Developing Countries – Lessons from Ethiopia

Breastfeeding provides the ideal food during the first 6 months of life. Complementary feeding starts when breast milk is no longer sufficient by itself, where the target age is for 6-23 months. The gap between nutritional requirement and amount obtained from breast milk increases with age. For energy, 200, 300, and 550 kcal per day is expected to be covered by complementary foods at 6-8, 9-11, and 12-23 months, respectively. In addition, the complementary foods must provide relatively large proportions of micronutrients such as iron, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, and vitamin B6. In several parts of the developing world, complementary feeding continues as a challenge to good nutrition in children. In Ethiopia, only 4.2% of breastfed children of 6-23 months of age have a minimum acceptable diet. The gaps are mostly attributed to either poor dietary quality or poor feeding practices, if not both. Commercial fortified foods are often beyond the reach of the poor. Thus, homemade complementary foods remain commonly used. Even when based on an improved recipe, however, unfortified plant-based complementary foods provide insufficient key micronutrients (especially, iron, zinc, and calcium) during the age of 6-23 months. Thus, this review assessed complementary feeding practice and recommendation and reviewed the level of adequacy of homemade complementary foods.