Systematic review of infant and young child complementary feeding practices in South Asian families: the Pakistan perspective

Abstract

ObjectiveSuboptimal nutrition among children remains a problem among South Asian (SA) families. Appropriate complementary feeding (CF) practices can greatly reduce this risk. Thus, we undertook a systematic review of studies assessing CF (timing, dietary diversity, meal frequency and influencing factors) in children aged <2 years in Pakistan.DesignSearches between January 2000 and June 2016 in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Web of Science, OVID Maternity & Infant Care, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, BanglaJOL, POPLINE and WHO Global Health Library. Eligibility criteria: primary research on CF practices in SA children aged 0–2 years and/or their families. Search terms: ‘children’, ‘feeding’ and ‘Asians’ with their derivatives. Two researchers undertook study selection, data extraction and quality appraisal (EPPI-Centre Weight of Evidence).ResultsFrom 45 712 results, seventeen studies were included. Despite adopting the WHO Infant and Young Child Feeding guidelines, suboptimal CF was found in all studies. Nine of fifteen studies assessing timing recorded CF introduced between 6 and 9 months. Five of nine observed dietary diversity across four of seven food groups; and two of four, minimum meal frequency in over 50 % of participants. Influencing factors included lack of CF knowledge, low maternal education, socio-economic status and cultural beliefs.ConclusionsThis is the first systematic review to evaluate CF practices in Pakistan. Campaigns to change health and nutrition behaviour are needed to meet the substantial unmet needs of these children.

Systematic review of infant and young child complementary feeding practices in South Asian families: the India perspective

“…Due to the vast number of publications identified, the present review (PROSPERO registration number CRD42014014025) summarizes publications on CFP in SA families in India only, with concurrent reviews summarizing publications on CFP in SA families in high-income countries (L Manikam, R Lingam, I Lever et al, unpublished results), Pakistan (15) and Bangladesh (16) , respectively. High-income countries were included to investigate any differences in practice for SA who may have emigrated.…”

Complementary Feeding Practices for South Asian Young Children Living in High-Income Countries: A Systematic Review

“…This left 978 potentially eligible full text articles, which were independently reviewed by two researchers. One hundred and thirty-nine full text articles were ultimately extracted, of which 13 were relevant to high-income countries and the remainder relevant to India, Bangladesh and Pakistan [ 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”

“…We therefore aimed to review CFP in line with WHO IYCF guidelines for SA families residing in high-income countries. As part of the same project, we simultaneously reviewed CF practices for SAs in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, with these countries being the most populous SA countries; these three reviews are published elsewhere [ 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”

Interventions to Improve Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review&nbsp;&nbsp;

“…The IYCF practices included EIBF, EBF, the introduction of solid, semi-solid and soft foods, continued breastfeeding at one year, MDD, MMF, and MAD, measured according to the WHO de nitions for assessing IYCF indicators [33]. These indicators were selected based on their effect on the health and development of infants and young children [11,12,35] and the evidence from previously published systematic reviews [11,34].…”