Correlates of complementary feeding practice among caregivers of infants and young children aged 6-24 months at Mbagathi district hospital, Nairobi

Abstract

Background: Complementary feeding practice is a critical determinant of nutrition and health outcomes in infancy and early childhood and has lifelong repercussions . In Kenya, compliance to recommended complementary feeding practice has been shown to be low despite adoption of high impact policies and guidelines. Context specific correlates of complementary feeding practice must be highlighted as the first step to wards address ing this gap Obj ective: T o identify the correlates of complementary feeding practices among caregivers of infants and young children aged 6 - 24 Months at Mbagathi District Ho spital. Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in the Paediatric outpatien t and Maternal and child health (MCH) clinics of Mbagathi district hospital among caregivers of infants and young children. Simple random sampling was utilised to select 155 caregiver - infant dyads, allocated proportionately to the two clinics. Interviews w ere conducted using a standardised questionnaire that assessed for maternal socio demographics, infant and young child characteristics, alternate caregiver and health care worker influence and infant and young child feeding practices. A response rate of 10 0% was attained. Results : Only 44%, 70.7% and 66.9% of the participants attained minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency and timely introduction to complementary feeds respectively. Correlates of dietary diversity included: maternal education lev el P= 0.018, occupation P= 0.012, being in or having ever been in a marital union, and healthcare worker support in infant and young child feeding P= 0.017. Dietary diversity improved with the household wealth index, maternal employment, level of education and health education on nutritional composition. Health care workers were the main source of information on complementary feeding while alternate caregivers were key care providers. Previous maternal experience and xiv presence of an immediately older sibling was shown to influence complementary feeding practice. Diarrhoea was the most prevalent nutrition related morbidity affecting 58.2% of the infants with an average frequency of 2 episodes per child. Conclusion and recommendations : The study shows low compl iance to WHO recommended complementary feeding practice. Interventions should focus on improving maternal socio economic status and education level and enhancing capacity in health care facilities to provide consistent, context appropriate health educatio n early in the reproductive life of mothers. In addition, social marketing and behaviour change models are important in addressing this situation. Further research should focus on the role of primary social support systems of caregivers in complementary fe eding practice.