Actual nutrition of young children: how to make what you want real

Abstract

Introduction. The nutrition of young children determines the vector of the physical and neuro-psychological development of the child, forms the characteristics of eating behavior.Aim. To study the features of the nutritional practice of young children living in Belgorod, and to evaluate the success of the implementation of the Program for optimizing the nutrition of children aged 1 to 3 years in the Russian Federation in pediatric practice.Materials and methods. We interviewed 307 women with young children born at 38–41 weeks of gestation with an Apgar score of at least 8 points. In addition, we developed a questionnaire that allows retrospectively assessing the regime and diet of young children.Results. We identified the following problems of young children nutrition: non-compliance with the diet – only 18.1% of the respondents strictly adhered to the regime, the use of confectionery and sweets as snack products in almost a third of children (27%) which were introduced into the diet in 44% of children aged 1–2 years, and in 43% of children after 2 years. According to the survey data, 38.2% of respondents used industrial food products for young children in the form of milk-based drinks, but the duration of their use was limited to the second year of life. 14% of children used other industrial food products for young children.Discussion. The presented dietary habits of children lead to the formation of incorrect eating habits, aggravating the imbalance of the diet, increasing the risk of health problems.Conclusion. The results of the study show the need for further work on the active implementation of the existing recommendations for optimizing the nutrition of young children. The FrutoNyanya brand includes a wide selection of industrially produced baby food products, allowing you to achieve a wide variety, but also healthy food products.