Food practices in the first two years of life: presence of vulnerability in health

AIMS: To investigate feeding practices in the first two years of life in children treated by a public health service. METHODS: This was across-sectional study based on interviews with mothers of children aged six to incomplete 24 months, recruited between February and June 2013, in the Basic Health Surveillance Unit of the city of Sao Miguel do Oeste, Santa Catarina state. A food frequency intake questionnaire of the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System (SISVAN -Sistema de Vigilância Alimentar e Nutricional), applied to the mothers, was used as the data collection instrument. RESULTS: Data on feeding practices were collected from 86 children, whose average age was 14.69±5.27 months, and 52 children (60.46%) were younger than 12 months. The majority had good dietary practices, such as intake of fruits (91.86%), meat (84.88%) and vegetables/salads (82.55%). However, a significant proportion of inappropriate practices was found, such as watching television during meals (33.72%), ingestion of processed juices (47.67%), soft drink intake (46.51%) and less than six months exclusive breastfeeding (56.70%). CONCLUSIONS: Although some healthy dietary practices have been prevalent in the group evaluated, a significant proportion of unhealthy eating practices was found. This is a concerning finding in children under two years, given the vulnerability of this phase of life and its importance to the construction of dietary patterns that have great possibility to perpetuate over the life of the individual.