Balamrutham - Weaning food for children between 7months and 3 years
“Balamrutham” is the weaning food introduced under ICDS to provide improved supplementary nutrition to children between 7 months to 3 years. The weaning food is a preparation of wheat, chana dal, milk powder, oil and sugar. It is fortified and thus provides 50% of iron, calcium, vitamins and other RDA that children require per day. The composition and nutritive values of Balamrutham is indicated at Table-I and II respectively.
The recommended quantity is 100 gms which is to be given to children 3-5 times every day. For children below one year, Balamrutham can be served as porridge mixed with hot water and for older children, it can be given in the form of “Laddu”.
Balamrutham is distributed in packets of 2.5 Kg per child per month. It is distributed on first day of every month on Nutrition Health Day-1 to mothers of 7 months - 3 years children as Take Home Ration. Along with Balamrutham packet, these children also receive 2 eggs a week at the AWC under ICDS Food Model for 7months to 3 years under ICDS is at Table-III.
It is expected that Balamrutham will serve as an effective supplementary nutrition during the child’s crucial period of 7 months to 3 years and along with counseling to mother on IYCF practices will help to prevent incidence of chronic malnutrition.
Balamrutham serves not only as a weaning food but also as a caloric dense food to reduce malnutrition and is therefore used as part of Supervised feeding for malnourished children.
Table-I: Composition per 100 g of Balamrutham (fortified with vitamins & minerals)
Ingredients |
Parts |
Energy |
Protein |
Roasted Wheat |
55 |
190.3 |
6.4 |
Bengal Gram |
5 |
18.0 |
1.0 |
Skimmed Milk Powder |
10 |
35.7 |
3.6 |
Sugar |
20 |
80 |
0 |
Oil |
10 |
90 |
0 |
TOTAL |
100 |
414.0 |
11.0 |
Table-II: Nutritive value per 100 g in Balamrutham
Sl. |
GOI Norms |
Available Nutrients in Natural Ingredients |
Fortification |
Total |
1 |
Energy (kcal) |
414 |
0 |
414 |
2 |
Protein (g) |
11 |
0 |
11 |
3 |
Calcium (mg) |
167 |
200 |
367 |
4 |
Iron (mg) |
3.1 |
6 |
9.1 |
5 |
Vitamin A (µg) |
2.5 |
200 |
202.5 |
6 |
Vitamin B1 (µg) |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.6 |
7 |
Vitamin B2 (mg) |
0.2 |
0.35 |
0.55 |
8 |
Vitamin C (mg) |
0.5 |
15 |
15.5 |
9 |
Folic Acid (µg) |
7.1 |
15 |
22.1 |
10 |
Niacin (mg) |
2.3 |
4 |
6.3 |
Table-III: Food Model for Take Home Ration (THR) of 7 months-3yearsChildren (per beneficiary)
Feeding Model |
Sl. |
Item |
Quantity |
Tentative |
Nutritive Value |
||
Energy |
Protein |
Calcium |
|||||
THR |
1 |
Balamrutham–[Roasted Wheat, Bengal Gram, Milk powder, Sugar &Oil] |
100g |
4.58 |
414.00 |
11.00 |
367.00 |
Spot Feeding/ THR |
2 |
Egg (4perweek) |
32 g |
2.24 |
55.36 |
4.26 |
19.2 |
|
3 |
Transport |
|
0.10 |
|
|
|
|
4 |
Fuel |
|
0.20 |
|
|
|
TOTAL |
|
7.12 |
469.36 |
15.26 |
386.2 |
||
References:
- G.O.Ms.No. 14, WCD&SC Dept., dt.28.02.2014
