Counselling and Education Cards for Health Workers: Infant and Young Child Feeding for Children Under Two Years (Gaza, 2026)

The document provides guidance on maternal nutrition during pregnancy and lactation, emphasizing adequate dietary intake, micronutrient supplementation, antenatal care, and healthy maternal practices. It highlights the importance of early initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour after birth, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, and continued breastfeeding alongside complementary foods up to two years and beyond. Detailed counselling messages address breastfeeding techniques, positioning and attachment, breastmilk expression and storage, management of common breastfeeding difficulties, and prevention of breast-related problems.

The job aid also outlines age-appropriate complementary feeding recommendations for children aged 6–24 months, including meal frequency, portion sizes, food consistency, dietary diversity, responsive feeding, and food safety practices. Special attention is given to micronutrient intake, prevention and identification of malnutrition, growth monitoring, immunization, feeding during illness, and management of common childhood conditions such as diarrhoea.

Recognizing the links between nutrition and child development, the publication includes practical guidance on responsive caregiving, play, communication, and age-appropriate stimulation activities to support cognitive, language, social, and motor development. Presented in a user-friendly card format, the resource equips health workers with key messages and counselling tools to improve child survival, growth, development, and wellbeing in humanitarian and community settings in Gaza.