Impact of a strategy to prevent the introduction of non-breast milk and complementary foods during the first 6 months of life: a randomized clinical trial with adolescent mothers and grandmothers.

Introduction: Although the disadvantages of introducing non-breast milk and the early introduction of complementary foods are known, such practices are common worldwide.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of counseling about breastfeeding and complementary feeding in preventing the introduction of non-breast milk and complementary foods in the first 6 months.

Methods: This randomized clinical trial enrolled 323 adolescent mothers and their newborns and 169 maternal grandmothers; 163 mothers and 88 grandmothers received five counseling sessions on breastfeeding while in the hospital and at 7, 15, 30, and 60 days, and one session on complementary feeding at 120 days. Data about infant feeding were collected monthly. The impact was evaluated by comparing the Kaplan-Meier survival curves for the time of introduction of non-breast milk and complementary foods of the control and intervention groups. Median time of introduction of milk was calculated in the two groups.

Results: The survival curves showed that the intervention postponed the introduction of non-breast milk and complementary foods. At 4 months, 41% (95% CI, 32.8-49.2) of the infants in the control group received complementary foods in comparison to 22.8% (95% CI, 15.9-29.7) of the intervention group. Counseling postponed the introduction of non-breast milk, which occurred at 95 days (95% CI, 8.7-111.3) in the control group and at 153 days (95% CI, 114.6-191.4) in the intervention group.

Conclusions: Counseling sessions on infant's first 4 months were an efficacious strategy to prevent the introduction of non-breast milk and complementary foods in the 6 months of life.