Appropriate Complementary Feeding Practice and Associated Factors among Mother of Children 6–23 Months in Mettu Town, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: An appropriate diet is a critical component for proper growth and development of children. The first two years of life are a critical window for ensuring optimal child growth and development and Nutritional deficiencies during this period can lead to impaired cognitive development, compromised educational achievement, and low economic productivity which become difficult to reverse later in life. Objective: the aim of the study is to assess the appropriate complementary feeding practice of mother pair of children 6–23 months and associated factors in Mettu town, South-West Ethiopia, 2018. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study design was employed on total sample size of 316 infant and young children age 6–23 month found Mettu Town. Preliminary survey was conducted to identifying the number of 6–23 months of children in Mettu town and we found list of all children which the total number of children were 1920. The Variables which was significance at p-value <0.25 in Bivariate logistic regression was entered in multiple logistic regression model then the degree of prediction of variable was tested at P-value <0.05. Result: A total of 301 caregivers involved on complementary feeding practice of children’s of 6–23 months in Mettu town Southwest Ethiopia, with the response rate 95.3%. Among those children participated in the study, more than half, 178 (59.1%) of them were females. The proportion of children 6– 23 months who met the minimum dietary diversity (≥ 4 food groups) was 95 (31.6%), 255 (84.7 %) had minimum meal frequency and over all appropriate complementary feeding practice was 93(30.9). children 9–23 months were 2.61 more likely feed appropriately when compared to children 6–8 months (AOR=2.61, 95% CI=1.09, 6.24). Mothers who currently feeding breast their children were 3.2 times more likely practice appropriate complementary feeding when compared to mothers who don’t feed breast their children currently (AOR=3.2 95% CI=1.19, 8.57). Conclusion: The prevalence of timely initiation of complementary feeding at 6 months, minimum dietary diversity, minimum feeding frequency and minimum acceptable diet were low. The overall prevalence of appropriate complementary feeding practices was also low.