Appropriate strategies to improve infant and young child feeding.

There is an increasing body of evidence that supports breastfeeding over bottle feeding even under the most ideal conditions. Human breast milk contains nutrients in an appropriate balance for proper human growth as well as a variety of substances which aid in protecting against infections. Additionally breast milk is an economically efficient relatively uncontaminated nutrient source especially designed for the human infant. At this time many developing countries are facing the problem of the decline in breastfeeding as the promotion and acceptance of commercial infant formula gains ground. Direct government legislation over the activities of the multinationals within their borders is 1 strategy available to developing countries as a control over the promotion of infant formula. A very important aspect to be considered is the possible repercussions. Price controls on infant formula may take 2 routes: lower prices may result in more widespread use of bottle feeding; and higher prices may lead to overdilution by mothers unable to afford adequate amounts of the formula. If the availability of the infant formula was restricted a mother might turn to a less than ideal feeding pattern by using less desirable foods such as sweetened condensed milk. Consequently only after careful consultation with the appropriate experts in social legal economic and nutritional areas should governments impose restrictions price controls and place formulas on a prescription only basis. In developing an educational program it is necessary to recognize that such programs stimulate cultural change and thus success depends ultimately on satisfactory incorporation at all levels of society. Constraints of time money and facilities limit large scale programs in almost all situations yet the developers awareness of the interrelationship between individual behavior and cultural sanctions can facilitate program development and acceptance. As breastfeeding is primarily a nutritional issue at least in developing nations efforts to encourage it should be an integrated part of a nutrition education program. Paul Freires philosophy of education has some fundamental elements which he considered as necessary for the "conscientizacao" of oppressed persons in developing countries and some fundamental elements of his philosophy are reviewed.