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A quarter of parents start complementary feeding of their babies before the fourth month of life, contrary to the international recommendation from the WHO to start after six months of exclusive breastfeeding.

In other words, 26% of the infants in a group of 92 healthy newborns went from exclusive breastfeeding to the consumption of solid foods early, even though the WHO recommends doing so at 6 months of age.

This result, obtained by the National Institute of Perinatology (INPer) through a follow-up study with pregnant women called OBESO - Biochemical and epigenetic origin of obesity, also showed that 50% of newborns started supplementary feeding with sugars, which is not recommended during the first two years of life.

Both the early start of complementary feeding and the consumption of sugars before two years are correlated to a greater accumulation of fat in children. For this reason, changing the lifestyles of families is a transcendental factor to modify feeding practices such as these.

As an alternative to these inadequate feeding practices, the Department of Nutrition and Bioprogramming at the INPer offers guidance courses on infant feeding and complementary feeding, as well as a training course for first level health workers that need to devise interventions that improve feeding practices of infants.

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