Complementary feeding hygiene practice and associated factors among mothers with children aged 6–24 months in tegedie district, Northwest Ethiopia: Community-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

IntroductionHygienic practice of mothers during complementary feeding is crucial in the protection of vulnerable infants and children aged 6–24 months from childhood communicable diseases like diarrheal and malnutrition. However, sufficient evidence on hygienic practice of mothers during complementary feeding and its associated factors is limited.ObjectiveTo determine the levels of complementary feeding hygiene practice and its associated factors among mothers of children aged 6–24 months in Tegedie district, northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 17 to April 17, 2021, among 576 mothers with children aged 6-24 months in Tegedie district northwest Ethiopia. A multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and it entered into Epi-data version 4.6, and exported to SPSS version 20.0 for data cleaning and further analysis. Bivariate and multivariable binary logistic regressions analysis were employed to identify predictors of complementary feeding hygiene practice with p-value < 0.25 enter into the multivariable logistic regression model. Then variables with p-value ≤ 0.05 in multivariable logistic regressions were considered as statistically significance.ResultsThe prevalence of hygienic practice during complementary feeding of their children aged 6-24 months was, 33.6% with 95% CI: (29.7%, 37.6%) of them had good practice. Living in urban areas [AOR= 7.02, 95% CI: (4.14, 11.88)], presence of hand washing facility near the latrine [AOR= 3.02, 95% CI: (1.18, 7.70)], presence of separate area to store raw and cooked foods [AOR= 5.87, 95% CI: (2.84, 12.13)] and presence of three-compartment dishwashing system [AOR= 5.70, 95% CI: (3.41, 9.54)] were significant predictors of hygienic complementary feeding practice.Conclusion and recommendationThe prevalence of good hygienic practice during complementary feeding among mothers was still low; the district health office and health extension workers should work to improve the maternal hygienic practices during complementary feeding practice.