Infant nutrition health lesson

Today we shared a lesson on nutrition for babies 0-24 months with mothers and fathers at the health center. Then we made mashed bananas and mashed avocado as an examples of snacks you can feed to children from 6-24 months. Next week we make enriched porridge!


Mothers and fathers holding visual aids on food groups:

This is Ebenezer. He is a public health officer at the health center. I wrote the lesson and my language tutor translated it to Sidamic. Ebenezer read it aloud and ad libbed a bit and I followed along and displayed the visual aids.

So, first I had the half liter bottle full of the liquid that represented breast milk (water and red food coloring - now that I think about it - milk is probably a better choice). We explained that breast milk fulfills all a baby's nutritional needs from 0-6 months. Then I poured the liquid into the liter bottle to show that a baby's nutritional needs are half met by breast milk, half by complementary feeding from 6-12 months. Finally, I poured the liquid into the 1 and 1/2 liter bottle to show that breast milk fulfills 1/3 of a baby's nutritional needs from 12-24 months.