Transition from milks to the introduction of solid foods across the first 2 years of life: findings from an Australian birth cohort study

Abstract

BackgroundThe current literature regarding the transition from milks to solid foods across the first 2 years of life is limited despite the important influence of early dietary intake on children's growth and development. The present study describes dietary intake from birth to 2 years across four developmental relevant time‐points within an Australian birth cohort.MethodsDietary data from 466 infants was collected at four time‐points in the first 2 years of life via parent‐reported questionnaire, including a 45‐item food and beverage frequency questionnaire. Subsample analyses of children who were aged 1–3, 6–8, 12–14 and 18–20 months at the time of data collection were conducted.ResultsInfant formula remained consistently consumed by over 75% of children from the 6–8‐ to 18–20 months old age groups. Mean (SD) age of introduction to solid foods was 5.2 (1.3) months. Almost 20% and 10% of children were introduced before 16 and after 32 weeks, respectively. The highest consumption of core foods, recommended for a healthy diet, daily was seen in the 12–14 months old age group with lower proportions in the 18–20 months old age group coinciding with an increased proportion of children eating discretionary choice foods, not recommended for a healthy diet. Discretionary choice foods/beverages presented in children's diets as early as in the 6–8 months old age group. By 18–20 months, at least 20% of children were consuming savoury biscuits, sweet biscuits, muesli bars and luncheon meats at least twice a week.ConclusionsThe present study identified a number of findings outside the recommendations of the Australian Dietary and Infant Feeding Guidelines. Further work is warranted to explore these outcomes.

Sources and Determinants of Discretionary Food Intake in a Cohort of Australian Children Aged 12–14 Months

“…Nevertheless our findings are consistent with earlier Australian studies which reported that 91% of children aged 12 to 16 months [23] and 99% of children aged 16 to 24 months [22] consumed discretionary foods. Similar to other Australian studies [18,19,22,23], sweet and savory biscuits, hot chips/French fries, and processed meats were the discretionary food items most commonly consumed by members of the SMILE cohort.…”

“…Consumption of discretionary foods by Australian children begins early in the weaning period [18][19][20] and the proportion of children consuming discretionary foods increases markedly in the second year of life [19,24,40]. One in every five children in the second Perth Infant Feeding Study had consumed cakes and biscuits by 22 weeks [18], and the proportions of children in the Melbourne InFANT study consuming sweetened beverages and savory and sweet energy-dense snacks increased more than two-fold between 9 and 18 months [24].…”

“…As Australian national dietary surveys have focused only on the intake of children 2 years and over, data on the dietary intake of Australian children younger than 2 years are limited. A small number of studies have assessed the discretionary food intake, defined in earlier studies as 'extras' or non-core foods, of Australian infants and toddlers younger than 2 years and reported that the majority of children were consuming discretionary foods well before 2 years of age [18][19][20][21], with sweet biscuits (cookies), hot chips (French fries), ice-cream and sweet and savory snack foods being the most commonly consumed items [18,19,22,23]. Furthermore, as children become older, discretionary foods contribute an increasing proportion of the total energy intake [21,24,25].…”

Poor nutrition from first foods: A cross‐sectional study of complementary feeding of infants and young children in six remote Aboriginal communities across northern Australia

“…Recent research in Australian urban settings found that complementary diets of Australian Indigenous infants and other Australian infants and young children are often nutritionally compromised, with inadequate quantities of nutrient‐dense foods and increased nutritionally poor choices with increasing age . In contrast, traditional foods of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were rich in the nutrients required for healthy childhood growth and development .…”

Professional and non‐professional sources of formula feeding advice for parents in the first six months

“…More recent Australian studies based in two different states provide more specific data of the frequency of formula. In one study from the state of Victoria ( n =466), 60% of infants aged between one and three months and 75% of infants aged between six and eight months were consuming formula (Amezdroz et al, ). In another study from the state of Queensland ( n =202), at six months of age, 46.3% of infants were consuming formula (Newby & Davies, ).…”