OBJECTIVETo evaluate the feeding behavior of infants and young children aged from 6 to 24-month-old in Chengdu by feeding index.

METHODS608 infants and young children were randomly selected from Chengdu and divided into 6-, 9-, 12 - 24 month-old groups. Data including basic information, breastfeeding, and complementary feeding were collected through questionnaire. The feeding status of subjects was evaluated by feeding index system (the total score was 19) established by infant feeding principle of WHO.

RESULTSThe total feeding index score (FIS) of 608 subjects was 11.0 ± 2.4. The FIS of 6-(192), in 9-(174) and 12 - 24 month-old (242) groups were 9.6 ± 2.8, 11.1 ± 2.1, 11.9 ± 1.6, respectively. The FIS was increased with month of children (F = 61.311, P < 0.05). The ratios above 60% (the score of 11.4) and 80% (the score of 15.2) of FIS were 46.4% (282/608) and 0.7% (4/608) respectively. The ratios above 60% of FIS were 26.5% (51/192), 45.4% (79/174), 66.9% (162/242) in 6-, 9-, 12 - 24 month-old groups respectively. The percentages of bottle feeding and breastfeeding were 94.2% (573/608) and 25.2% (153/608) respectively.45.1% (274/608) of them were fed by recommended feeding frequency, and 73.0% (444/608) were given enough types of food. With the month-old increasing, the foods of higher intake frequency were vegetables/fruits, cereals, milk and diary product, eggs. The intake frequency of meat was higher in 9 to 24 month-old group, but intake frequency of fish and beans was low in all groups.

CONCLUSIONThe feeding behavior of infants and young children in Chengdu is not optimistic, especially for the lower month infants.