Minimum acceptable diet and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months during fasting days of orthodox Christian mothers in Gondar city, North West Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Nutritional improvement through appropriate feeding practices is critical for young children's healthy growth and development. Even if children are exempted from fasting, their diets are influenced by the widespread fasting practices of their Orthodox Christian mothers. However, scientific evidence on a minimum acceptable diet (MAD) among children aged 6–23 months during the fasting period was limited. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the minimum acceptable diet and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months during the fasting period among Orthodox Christian mothers in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia. Method A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted during the fasting season (Lent) from March 8, 20,121 to April 8, 2021. A total of 738 Orthodox Christian mothers with their children were selected by multistage sampling. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data among mothers to assess children’s MAD status. The degree of association between independent and dependent variables was assessed by using an odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval. Those variables with a p-value of less than 0.05 in the multivariable analysis were considered as a significant factor for MAD among children aged 6–23 months. Data were presented using texts, tables and figures. Results The overall prevalence of MAD among children aged 6–23 months was 19.4% (95% CI: 16.40%-22.20). Having household wealth index of rich and middle (AOR = 4.39, 95% CI: 2.26,8.50) and (AOR = 3.25, 95% CI: 1.69,6.22), respectively, children aged from 12–17 months (AOR = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.43,4.92) and 18–23 months (AOR = 5.39, 95% CI: 2.93,9.95) respectively, Children who lived with a family member who consumed any time without keeping the fasting time(AOR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.13,2.83) and mothers of young children who were married (AOR = 4.13, 95% CI: 1.29,13.23) have significant association with MAD. Conclusion The practice of minimum acceptable diet was inadequate. Age of child, wealth status, marital status, and presence of family member who fed without keeping fasting time were significantly associated factors for MAD among children aged 6–23 months. Advocacy for appropriate feeding practice and meeting the MAD for children aged 6–23 months during the fasting period should also be strengthened targeting the unmarried women and those with poor households and giving awareness for mothers in collaboration with the respective religious leaders is highly recommended.

Zero fruits/vegetables consumption and associated factors among Children aged 6–23 months in Ethiopia: Mixed effect logistic regression analysis

“…This study also revealed that children of mothers who were Muslim were less likely to have zero fruits/vegetables consumption compared to children of mothers who practice orthodox religion. Although the feeding habit of a mother is influenced by many factors including culture, personal beliefs as well as, access to food, extensive fasting by mothers who are Orthodox Christians may influence complementary feeding practices [40]. We recommend that future research should qualitatively explore the feeding experience of women while fasting.…”

Minimum acceptable diet and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…As a result, the source of heterogeneity was deference towards residence (Table 2). and child age [43][44][45], ANC [21,22], PNC [21,24,25,28,46], Household food insecurity [42][43][44], maternal education [25,42,47], wealth index [22,25,28,43,45,46], nutrition information [27,28,43], mothers' decision power [26,27], media exposure [23,25,27,45,48], maternal knowledge [26,49] and residence [17,28,50]) had data that could be used in the quantitative meta-analysis. Greater heterogeneity was observed among studies evaluating maternal decision-making, the age of the child, and being both middle and rich wealth groups (Table 3).…”

“…Furthermore, a poor diet puts children at risk for impaired learning, increased infections, poor brain development, and, in many cases, mortality [20]. Poor infant and young child feeding practices, in particular MAD, have a variety of major causes, including sociodemographic and economic factors such as having a husband with a secondary or higher educational level [21][22][23], being a housewife [21], having mothers early ages [17,21], child late ages [21][22][23][24][25], having households with rich and middle-class wealth [17,24,26], having mothers who are married [24], mothers who are educated [17,22,[25][26][27], involvement of mother in decision making [27], birth order of index children [27], and employed mothers [23].…”

Minimum acceptable diet and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Poor infant and young child feeding practices, in particular MAD, have a variety of major causes, including sociodemographic and economic factors such as having a husband with a secondary or higher educational level [ 21 – 23 ], being a housewife [ 21 ], having mothers early ages [ 17 , 21 ], child late ages [ 21 – 25 ], having households with rich and middle-class wealth [ 17 , 24 , 26 ], having mothers who are married [ 24 ], mothers who are educated [ 17 , 22 , 25 – 27 ], involvement of mother in decision making [ 27 ], birth order of index children [ 27 ], and employed mothers [ 23 ]. Having a history of postnatal follow-ups [ 17 , 21 , 28 ], institutional delivery [ 25 – 27 ], using Growth Monitoring Promotion services [ 22 , 25 , 28 ], having Antenatal Care visits [ 22 ], and having a history of illness two weeks prior to the survey [ 22 ] are characteristics related to child and mother health care utilization..…”