What is known about maternal and infant nutrition in Scotland?
brings together information from available sources to assess nutrition in women and infants from pre-conception to the infant’s third birthday. It will play an important role in informing the Scottish Government’s strategy to improve maternal and infant nutrition which is currently being developed. Despite relatively good data on breastfeeding rates in Scotland, Health Scotland’s researchers discovered very limited information on the nutritional intake of women during and after pregnancy and on the types of foods given to young children. Nevertheless, it is clear that many infants in Scotland may not be getting the best start in life. Dr Gerry McCartney, Head of the Public Health Observatory at NHS Health Scotland, said: “We know that getting adequate nutrition in early childhood and during pregnancy is very important for health, and the data we do collect suggests that there is some slow improvement over time in areas such as breastfeeding. However, we know very little about trends in
