Infant and young child feeding practice among mothers with 0–24 months old children in Slum areas of Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundAdequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood is essential to ensure the health, growth and development of children. However, infant feeding practice is suboptimal in Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia. The slum area is a heavily populated urban informal settlement characterized by substandard housing, squalor, with a lack of reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, law enforcement and other basic services. Residents of the slum area were poor and less educated. This further compromises infant feeding practice. The aim of this study was to assess infant and young child feeding practice among mothers with 0–24 month old children in the study area.MethodsA community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 423 mothers with 0–24 month old children from June 01-30 / 2016. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Infant and young child feeding practice was assessed using the fifteen World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria.ResultsThe prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practice was 113 (84%). Sixty (15%) mothers gave prelacteal feeds and, 96 (23%) mothers used a bottle to feed their index child. Appropriate complementary feeding practice was only 20 (7%). Thirty nine out of forty mothers introduced complementary food timely, 131 (47%) of mothers gave the minimum meal frequency, and 20 (7%) children took the minimum food diversity and acceptable diet. Independent predictors for complementary feeding practice were having secondary and above education of the mother, receiving postnatal care, possession of radio and giving birth at hospital.ConclusionIn this study infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practice was poor. Therefore, there is a need for strengthening the promotion on IYCF practice during postnatal care and using mass media to giving emphasis for optimal complementary feeding practices, especially for mothers with a lower educational status.

Sustainable under nutrition reduction program and dietary diversity among children’s aged 6–23 months, Northwest Ethiopia: Comparative cross-sectional study

“…The possible reason might be that Ethiopia as a multiethnic country has diverse geographic and weather conditions which may affect the accessibility of adequate dietary diversity. However, our result was higher than those of studies conducted in the Slum areas of Bahir Dar city (20%) [25], Dangilla, northwest Ethiopia (12.6%) [12], Gorche district, Southern Ethiopia(10,6%) [13] and North Wollo zone, north east Ethiopia (7%) [26]. The possible reason might be differences in study times or times of data collection.…”

“…Mothers who had postnatal care visits were more likely to provide the recommended dietary diversity compared to their counterparts. This finding was supported by findings in South Asian countries [25,34]. The possible reasons for the association might be counseling about complementary feeding practice and demonstrations of diversified complementary food during post natal periods.…”

Social Stratification, Diet Diversity and Malnutrition among Preschoolers: A Survey of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“…Higher maternal education has been associated with improved child feeding practices [18], and reduced risk for stunting, wasting and being underweight [19]. On the other hand, higher maternal education levels have also been associated with frequent consumption of highly processed and sugar-sweetened beverages [20].…”

Infant and young child feeding practices among tribal mothers in Sambalpur district, Odisha, India

“…It was less than the value found in the results of a study conducted by Chaudhary et al where it was 26.2% and Demilew et al where it was 23%. 25,32 The practice of bottle feeding is mostly a byproduct of an urban and affluent lifestyle since it is economically demanding. Since both these studies were conducted in urban areas, the similar lifestyle may be posited as an explanation.…”