This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows:

To assess the effects and safety of preventive lipid‐based nutrient supplements (LNS) given with complementary foods on health, nutrition and developmental outcomes of non‐hospitalised infants and children 6 to 23 months of age, and whether or not they are more effective than other foods.

This review will not assess the effects of LNS as supplementary foods or therapeutic foods in the management of moderate and severe acute malnutrition.