Introduction of Weaning Foods into the Infant's Diet

Weaning has been recognized as a dangerous process in many developing countries since Ceciley Williams described kwashiorkor in 1935. The term weaning has been described as ambiguous by David Morley and should be avoided because "the following two meanings are possible: (a) It is equivalent to the French 'sevrage' i.e. cessation of breast feeding; (b) the time or period in which solid foods or food other than milk are introduced into the baby's diet." To avoid the confusion, he adopted the definition proposed by Scrimshaw for the "weaning period" which "commences when solids are introduced and continued until 3 months after suckling has been discontinued." Jelliffe describes the weaning period as the prolonged phase from complete breast feeding until the infant is entirely on an adult diet (12). Others define weaning as the period from the first consistent addition of a food supplement until breast or bottle feeding ends. Weaning could begin either when any food other than breast milk is introduced into the baby's diet, which includes cow's or goat's milk, or when any diet other than a milk diet (breast or animal) is given to a baby. At the time when cow's milk was regarded as a suitable substitute for breast milk, it was reasonable to propose the commencement of the weaning period when solids were introduced into the baby's diet. Recent studies have indicated that the ingestion of cow's milk by the baby, particularly during the first 3 months of its life could have adverse immunological, psychological, and nutritive consequences. For this reason weaning should be defined as commencing when any food other than breast milk is introduced into the child's diet. Such a definition will alert the health worker to the dangers of early artificial feeding. Two phases of weaning now become clear. The first is the early introduction of bottle or formula feeding, the second the feeding of solids or semisolids to the infant.