Timely Initiation of Complementary Feeding Practices in Gondar Town Northwest Ethiopia: A Cross-sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Background

The time of introduction and nutritionally adequate, safe, age-appropriate complementary feeding is extremely important for the child’s optimal growth, development, and health within the first 2 years of life. Despite a number of interventions to improve infant and young child feeding practices and nutritional status, appropriate feeding practices are far away from the recommendation. Therefore, the study aimed to assess timely initiation of complementary feeding practices and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in Gondar town, northwest Ethiopia.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in December 2017. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select 632 mother-child pairs. Pretested structured and interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were entered into Epi–info version 7 and transferred to SPSS version 20.0 for analysis. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to identify factors associated with timely initiation of complementary feeding. Finally, variables with a P-value of <0.05 were considered as statistically significant.

Results

The prevalence of timely initiation of complementary feeding was 47.3% (95%CI: 43.0, 51.3). Being housewife in maternal occupation (AOR = 2.03, 95%CI: 1.21, 3.43), good mother’s knowledge about complementary feeding (AOR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.28, 2.53) and attending post-natal care checkup (AOR = 3.90, 95%CI: 1.26, 12.04) were significantly associated with timely initiation of complementary feeding.

Conclusion

This study revealed that timely initiation of complementary feeding was low within the study area. Around half of the children started complementary feeding at their 6 months of age. Therefore, special emphasis should be given to mothers who have poor knowledge about complementary feeding and encourage all mothers to have postnatal follow-up is crucial.

KEYWORDS:

• Complementary feeding
• children
• ethiopia

Abbreviations

ANC:	=	Antenatal care
AOR:	=	Adjusted Odds Ratio
COR:	=	Crude Odds ratio
DDS:	=	Dietary Diversity Score
EDHS:	=	Ethiopia Demography and Health Survey
IYCF:	=	Infant and Young Child Feeding
PNC:	=	Postnatal care
SPSS:	=	Statistical Package for Social Sciences
UNESCO:	=	United Nation Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization
WHO:	=	World Health Organization

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank data collectors, supervisors, and study participants for their participation they made.

Availability of Data and Materials

Data will be available upon request from the corresponding author.

Authors’ Contributions

KB WW and ZA conceived the study, developed the tool, coordinated data collection, and carried out the statistical analysis and drafted the manuscript. KB WW and ZA participated in the design of the study, developed the tool, participated in the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Competing Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the ethical review board of the University of Gondar. Permission letter was also obtained from the Gondar town health office. Informed consent was obtained from each mothers/caregivers and personal identifiers were not retrieved to maintain confidentiality.

Additional information

Funding

No specific fund was secured for this study.