Abstract:
Complementary feeding has been improvised through education and different formats to be implemented among mothers through governments of different countries of the world. But also big organizations like WHO and UNICEF have been playing major roles in the implementation of complementary feeding to infants in the world. This shows us how important it is in the development of a child growth. This takes us to understand what complementary feeding is. According to WHO it is defined as "a process starting when breast milk alone is no longer sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of infants, and therefore other foods and liquids are needed, along with breast milk" [1-3]. According to the above definition it is a meal that is started when breast feeding is no more sufficient and should be required to fill the nutritional requirements needed by the infant. Breast feeding is required to be started as soon as the baby is born and should be exclusive till the age of six month since it has all the nutrients that the baby needs till that age but when the baby is more than six months old it requires more energy and nutritional requirements to the body which help in growth and development of the toddler. That is why after six month old mothers are advised to start complementary feeding that fulfills all the necessary nutritional compositions. Nutritional composition on the other hand is components of foods and provides values for energy and nutrients including protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals and for other important food components such as fiber. This review is initiated by the few known knowledge about complementary feeding and nutritional composition of the foods in Ethiopia.
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