6: Complementary Feeding Available to Purchase

The importance of complementary feeding has received tremendous recognition in international nutrition circles because of the well-established risk of infectious diseases and malnutrition with premature introduction of complementary food and nonexclusive breastfeeding during early infancy. For older infants, inadequate complementary feeding, either because of delayed introduction and/or reliance on poor-quality foods, is cited as a major cause of preventable mortality in young children.^1,2 

In industrialized nations, however, the high prevalence of nonexclusive breastfeeding and formula feeding as well as the availability of relatively inexpensive, hygienically prepared commercial foods in a wide array of choices designed specifically for...