Prevalence and Factors Associated with Child Feeding Practice Among Mothers of Woldia Town, Northeast Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Improving infant and young child feeding practices in children aged 6 to 24 months is crucial to improved nutritional status, and growth and development. Ethiopia had practiced infant and young child feeding through health extension package. Nevertheless, the prevalence of malnutrition, particularly stunting, is still notorious for the Amhara region of Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to assess complementary feeding practice and associated factors among mothers, who had children aged 6 to 24 months old in Woldia town, Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out on 415 mothers who had children aged 6 to 24 months old in Woldia town. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the required sample in house-to-house level. Interview was used to collect data using a pretested and validated questionnaire. The practice was considered using timely introduction, minimum dietary diversity, and meal frequency. The data was entered to EpiData version 4.2.0.0 and imported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. A descriptive statistic to present categorical variables, and bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions to assess the associations were computed. A variable with P -value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The optimal complementary feeding practice among early children was 49.6% (95%CI: 44.7–54.4%).The educational status of mothers (AOR: 0.37,95%CI: 0.18–0.75), number of children in the family (AOR: 3.50,95%CI: 1.57–7.83), and place of delivery (AOR: 3.24,95%CI: 1.33–8.07) had association with complementary feeding practice. Conclusion: The prevalence of optimum complementary feeding practice is low. Thus, mothers need to consider all components of food diversification like meat/fish/chicken while preparing their infants’ and young children’s meal. For this purpose, health education should be delivered for mothers to promote utilization of varied food groups, as well as to improve the content of complementary food.