The AAP will continue to work to maintain and improve the high quality of infant formulas in the United States, because in some cases breastfeeding is not practical or desired. The AAP believes that pediatricians are responsible for infants' and children's nutrition.
Pediatricians have an obligation to be well informed about the nutritional needs of their patients.
They must be able to advise their patients and their patients' families about nutritional needs for normal growth and development. They also must be knowledgeable about special nutritional requirements for infants and children with metabolic, gastrointestinal, infectious, and oncologic diseases or other chronic, debilitating conditions. Pediatricians must be knowledgeable enough to confirm or refute the informationMand misinformationMthat comes to the public through the lay media and mass advertising. The Academy continues to offer educational programs to its members and other health care professionals to help them develop their expertise about nutrition for infants and children. The Pediatrics in Review Program, an AAP educational program, has made nutrition one of its featured topics in its recent 6-year cycle.