Supplementing infant feeds

In 2001 the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a global recommendation that mothers should breastfeed exclusively for six months and, as such, it is recommended that health care professionals promote and offer support to facilitate breastfeeding as part of the WHO/UNICEF UK 'Baby Friendly Initiative'. ¹Weaning refers to the introduction of solid feeding and the replacement of milk with solid food as the major nutritional source.² The WHO recommends that the term weaning should be replaced by the term complementary feeding when referring to the introduction of solid food, as the former usually refers to stopping breastfeeding.³ However, in this article, weaning describes the introduction of food.