The Importance of Vitamin D for Infants To ensure future mailings from SMA® Professional reach your mailbox, add smaprofessional@smaprofessional.msgfocus.com to your safe sender list. Email not displaying properly? Click here to view in browser   Dear Healthcare Professional, Welcome to the March edition of our eNewsletter aimed to keep you updated with the latest news in infant nutrition. This month we are discussing the importance of Vitamin D in infants as we move out of winter and look at the recommendations from the SACN Vitamin D and Health report that was adopted by Public Health England (PHE) in 2016. We are also focussing on responsive feeding and the long term health impact of both what and how infants are fed. We have a new literature review available on our website that summarises recent research around responsive feeding to help you give current advice to new parents to help them feed their infants. Kind regards, The SMA® Professional Team The Importance of Vitamin D for Infants As infants enter their second year of life, nutrition remains critically important due to continuing growth and brain development. Ensuring sufficient vitamin D status in this group is particularly important for ensuring optimal bone health. PHE recommends an intake of 8.5 to 10 ug a day for infants and young children, and advises supplements for those consuming less than 500ml of formula milk. However, DNSIYC* data has revealed that only 9% of surveyed children aged 12-18 months received a supplement and only 32% of non-breastfed children were consuming some vitamin D fortified milk which leaves a large number of infants at risk of low vitamin D intake. Sidnell et al (2016) examined this DNSIYC* data, focussing upon the impact of the main type of milk consumed on nutrient intakes. Their findings highlight the significant contribution fortified milk can make to the vitamin D intake of infants aged 12-18 months, with those consuming at least 400ml a day meeting the current requirements. Additionally, infants consuming fortified milk met requirements for iron and calcium without increasing intakes of energy, protein and saturated fat which are already high in this population. These findings suggest fortified milks can help improve the nutritional intakes of infants in their second year of life - read the full paper here. *Diet and nutrition survey of infants and young children Responsive Feeding: NEW Literature Review available   Breastfeeding is a naturally responsive way of feeding. Responsive feeding refers to the mutual relationship between baby and caregiver – Infants are born with a sensitive appetite control mechanism that naturally regulates their energy intake. The infant provides the caregiver with clear hunger and fullness cues and it’s important that the caregiver accurately interprets these cues so not to override this natural mechanism, resulting in over-feeding. It is suggested that responsive feeding can contribute to a child’s healthy growth and eating behaviours in later life, partly due to the nurturing of their innate self-regulation of energy intake1. As a healthcare professional, do you offer parents advice and tips on responsive feeding? You may find our review of all the recent literature available on responsive feeding useful.   UNBRANDED HELPSHEET FOR PARENTS       SMA® PRO First Infant Milk The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recognised that protein intake in infants is in excess of requirements, and suggests a reduction of protein quantity in infant formula and follow-on formula could be considered. SMA® PRO First Infant Milk has a high quality, low quantity protein profile and is the only formula clinically proven to achieve a growth rate comparable with a breastfed baby.2 By combining the practical elements of responsive parenting3 with a formula clinically proven to show growth comparable to a breast fed baby2, we can help give formula-fed infants the best chance for healthy growth and the associated lifelong benefits.     *In powder formulation only; GOS/FOS = Galacto-oligosaccharides/Fructo-oligosaccharides. †LCPs = Long Chain Polyunsaturates ® Registered Trademark. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended that pregnant women and new mothers be informed on the benefits and superiority of breastfeeding – in particular the fact that it provides the best nutrition and protection from illness for babies. Mothers should be given guidance on the preparation for, and maintenance of, lactation, with special emphasis on the importance of a well-balanced diet both during pregnancy and after delivery. Unnecessary introduction of partial bottle-feeding or other foods and drinks should be discouraged since it will have a negative effect on breastfeeding. Similarly, mothers should be warned of the difficulty of reversing a decision not to breastfeed. Before advising a mother to use an infant formula, she should be advised of the social and financial implications of her decision: for example, if a baby is exclusively bottle-fed, more than one can (400 g) per week will be needed, so the family circumstances and costs should be kept in mind. Mothers should be reminded that breast milk is not only the best, but also the most economical food for babies. If a decision to use an infant formula is taken, it is important to give instructions on correct preparation methods, emphasising that unboiled water, unsterilised bottles or incorrect dilution can all lead to illness. References: 1. Harbron J, Booley S, Najaar B, Day CE., 2013. Responsive feeding: establishing healthy eating behaviour early on in life. S Afr J Clin Nutr. 26 (3), S141-149 2. Alexander et al., 2016. Growth of infants consuming whey-predominant term infant formulas with a protein content of 1.8 g/100 kcal: a multicenter pooled analysis of individual participant data. Am J Clin Nutr doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.130633 3. Savage JS, Birch LL, Marini M, Anzman-Frasca S and Paul IM., 2016. Effect of the INSIGHT Responsive Parenting Intervention on Rapid Infant Weight Gain and Overweight Status at Age 1 Year A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 170 (8), 742–749. 4. Nestlé data on file, 2014. 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