To explore a new pattern of infant complementary feeding by analyzing the impact of situational nutrition education on the nutritional knowledge of infant guardians and patterns of infant feeding.

A total of 272 infants aged from 1 to 2 months who underwent a health checkup at the Child Health Care, Jiangsu Huai′an Maternal and Child Health Hospital from April to December in 2014 were chosen as research subjects. They were divided into intervention group (n=140) and control group (n=132), respectively by random digits table method. Age ranging from 3 to 4 months of infants in intervention group, their guardians were taken situational nutrition education measure by a child nutrition specialist and a dietitian in a group of 10 to 15 guardians in a nutrition kitchen; The guardians of infants in control group were conducted routine nutrition guidance operations by an outpatient medical examiner. At age of 12 months of all infants in this study, their guardians were conducted questionnaire survey with self designed Infant Feeding Status Questionnaire of Huai′an Maternal and Child Health Hospital to collect data for our research. The chi-square test was used to compare the situations of infant feeding between two groups of infants, such as breast feeding rate and reasonable rate of food conversion, etc.. This study was in line with World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki revised in 2013 and informed consent forms were signed for clinical research from the guardians of all infants.

① There were no significant differences between two groups of infants at age of 4 months old in the rates of exclusive breast feeding, mixed feeding and artificial feeding (P>0.05). The breast feeding rates in intervention group were 88.6% and 37.1% at age of 6 and 12 months old of infants, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of 78.0% and 23.5% in control group, and the differences were statistically significant (χ²=5.468, P=0.022; χ²=5.977, P=0.018). ② The satisfaction rate of guardians on the food conversion guidance mode, the reasonable rate of food conversion, the reasonable rate of adding all the three types of supplementary foods (cereals, fruits and vegetables, animal foodstuff), the reasonable rate of adding animal foodstuff, and the usage rate of specific food machine of the guardians in intervention group were 90.0%, 87.1%, 77.1%, 82.9%, 50.0%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of 77.3%, 60.6%, 54.5%, 65.2%, 25.8% in control group, and all the differences were statistically significant (χ²=8.116, P=0.005; χ²=25.033, P<0.001; χ²=15.500, P<0.001; χ²=11.114, P=0.001; χ²=16.908, P<0.001).

Situational nutrition education as a new pattern of infant complementary feeding guidance can improve the nutritional knowledge of infant guardians and improve infant feeding status.