Assessment of infant feeding in communities of Shanghai city

ObjectiveTo examine the feeding situation of infants in urban communities of Shanghai since 2009.MethodsTotally 1 789 records of children were collected from child health care system in 2009-2011 and breastfeeding duration,weaning age and starting time,type,quantity of complementary food of the children were analyzed.ResultsThe rate of 4 months and 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding were 33.0% and 22.8% with an average weaning age of 6.4 months.Totally 61.3% of the children had complementary food from the age of under 4 months.The kinds of complementary food were various and the order was appropriate.There were 54.3% of the children had at least three kinds of complementary food at 6 month.The boby weight and height of the chidren with various kinds of complementary food at ages of 6 month or one year were greater than those of the children with only one kind of complementary food.There were still 52.7%,50.5%,and 57.9% the children did not have sufficient intake of milk,cereal,and vegetables recommended by Chinses Associalion of Maternal and Child Nutrition.ConclusionThe rate of exclusive breastfeeding for the infants aged 4 or 6 month was low and the weaning age was earlier.There were unreasonable complementary food introduction such as too earlier and insuffecient amount for some complementary food among the children in Shanghai.