{"id":93973,"date":"2018-07-17T08:34:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T08:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=e1e959267d6d551fcde2b7856f0e0d36"},"modified":"2018-07-17T08:34:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-17T08:34:00","slug":"news-story-sacn-publishes-feeding-in-the-first-year-of-life-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=93973","title":{"rendered":"News story: SACN publishes &#8216;Feeding in the first year of life&#8217; report"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (<abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr>) has published its report on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/feeding-in-the-first-year-of-life-sacn-report\">\u2018Feeding in the first year of life\u2019,<\/a> providing recommendations on infant feeding from birth up to 12 months of age.<\/p>\n<p>The last review of infant feeding was undertaken by <abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr>\u2019s predecessor Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy (<abbr title=\"Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy\">COMA<\/abbr>) in 1994 and formed the basis for government recommendations in the UK.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr> recommends babies are exclusively breastfed until around 6 months of age and continue to be breastfed for at least the first year of life. Additionally, solid foods should not be introduced until around 6 months to benefit the child\u2019s overall health. This represents no change to current government recommendations.<br \/>\n<abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr> concludes breastfeeding makes an important contribution to infant and maternal health. This includes the development of the infant immune system, while not breastfeeding is associated with a higher risk of infant hospital admission for infectious illness.<\/p>\n<p>By around 6 months of age, infants are usually ready to accept foods other than breastmilk or formula. <abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr> concludes delaying solid foods to around 6 months is not associated with later difficulty in accepting solid foods \u2013 the idea of a \u2018critical window\u2019 between 4 and 6 months is not supported by the evidence.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr> has recommended strengthening advice regarding the introduction of peanuts and hen\u2019s egg \u2013 advice on complementary feeding should state these foods can be introduced from around 6 months of age and need not be differentiated from other solid foods. The deliberate exclusion of peanuts or hen\u2019s egg beyond 6 to 12 months of age may increase the risk of allergy to these foods.<\/p>\n<p>Other recommendations include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>breast milk, infant formula and water should be the only drinks offered between 6 and 12 months of age &#8211; cows\u2019 milk should not be given as a main drink, as this is associated with lower iron status<\/li>\n<li>a wide range of solid foods, including foods containing iron, should be introduced from around 6 months of age, alongside breastfeeding &#8211; these foods should have different textures and flavours and may need to be tried several times before the infant accepts them, particularly as they get older<\/li>\n<li>breastfed infants up to 12 months should receive a daily supplement containing 8.5 to 10\u00b5g of vitamin D (340-400 IU\/d) &#8211; formula-fed infants do not need a supplement unless consuming less than 500ml of infant formula a day<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr> raises concerns about the proportion of infants with energy intakes above requirements and the proportion exceeding growth standards for their weight \u2013 around three-quarters of infants for both. <abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr> recommends consideration is given to monitoring the prevalence of overweight and overfeeding in infants, and ways to address high energy intakes in this age group.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Alison Tedstone, Chief Nutritionist at Public Health England (PHE) said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr> report reinforces existing advice on infant feeding in relation to breastfeeding and the introduction of solid foods. In new advice, it provides clear guidance on the introduction of allergenic foods.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\"><abbr title=\"Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition\">SACN<\/abbr>\u2019s robust advice puts to bed any arguments about a beneficial effect of early introduction of solid foods.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>PHE\u2019s <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/start4life\">Start4Life<\/a> website provides a range of advice and resources to help parents through pregnancy, birth and parenthood. This includes tips on infant feeding to help give children the best nutritional start in life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) publishes recommendations for infant feeding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93984,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93973\/revisions\/93984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}