Adherence to Guidance About Complementary Feeding and Vitamin D Supplementation in Infants: The Role of Information Sources.

Around half of parents adhered to current guidelines to delay the introduction of solid foods until after 24 weeks of age.

• 54% of parents adhered to current guidelines to delay the introduction of solid foods until after their infants were 24 weeks old.
• 390 parents were sent a postal questionnaire when their infant was around 6 months old; 220 completed it.
• The study was a cross-sectional survey conducted as part of a birth cohort study in a UK city.
• The questionnaire covered infants' diet and sources of information used to make decisions about introducing complementary foods.

Adherence to solid food introduction guidelines was positively associated with maternal age and education level.

• Higher maternal age was associated with greater adherence to guidelines on delaying solid food introduction until after 24 weeks.
• Higher maternal education level was also positively associated with adherence to these guidelines.
• These findings suggest sociodemographic disparities in guideline adherence among this UK sample.

Use of formal information sources was positively associated with adherence to complementary feeding guidelines.

• Formal information sources included Health Visitors and leaflets.
• The internet was described as 'a particularly significant source of information used by parents to make feeding decisions for their infants.'
• The role of different information sources in adherence was a primary aim of the study.

Vitamin D supplementation rates among infants of exclusively breastfeeding mothers were low but increased over time.

• Only 35% of exclusively breastfeeding mothers were supplementing their infants with Vitamin D.
• Supplementation rates did increase over the observation period.
• Current UK guidelines recommend Vitamin D supplementation for breastfed infants, making this rate substantially below recommended practice.

The internet was a particularly significant source of information used by parents for infant feeding decisions.

• The internet was identified as a key information source alongside formal sources such as Health Visitors and leaflets.
• Parents who used formal information sources showed greater adherence to feeding guidelines compared to those relying on other sources.
• The authors note that health professionals must develop strategies to communicate guidelines more effectively, partly in response to the prominence of internet use.