Poor complementary feeding practices and high anaemia prevalence among infants and young children in rural central and western China

Introduction: Appropriate complementary foods have been found to provide infants and young children with nutritional needs for their growth and development. In the absence of a randomized control trial (RCT), this study used observational data to evaluate the effect of appropriate complementary feeding practices on the nutritional status of children aged 6–23 months in Malawi using a propensity score matching statistical technique.Methods: Data on 4,722 children aged 6 to 23 months from the 2015–16 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) were analyzed. Appropriate complementary feeding practices were assessed using the core indicators recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and consist of the introduction of complementary feeding, minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet based on a dietary intake during a most recent 24-h period.Results: The prevalence of stunting (height-for-age z-score < −2 SD) was 31.9% (95% CI: 29.3%, 34.6%), wasting (weight-for-height z-score < −2 SD) 3.5% (95% CI: 2.6%, 4.7%) and underweight (weight-for-age z-score < −2 SD) 9.9% (95% CI: 8.4%, 11.8%). Of the 4,722 children, 7.7% (95% CI: 6.9%, 8.5%) were provided appropriate complementary foods. Appropriate complementary feeding practices were found to result in significant decrease in stunting (OR = 0.7, 95% CI: 0.4, 0.95). They also resulted in the decrease of wasting (OR = 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1, 1.7) and underweight (OR = 0.6, 95% CI: 0.2, 1.7).Conclusion: Appropriate complementary feeding practices resulted in a reduction of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children 6 to 23 months of age in Malawi. We recommend the continued provision of appropriate complementary foods to infants and young children to ensure that the diet has adequate nutritional needs for their healthy growth.

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Complementary Feeding: Is It The Forgotten Factor of The First 1000 Days of Life?

10.21203/rs.3.rs-140037/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Catherine Muthoni Njeru ◽

Anthony Ngugi ◽

Caroline Kathomi ◽

Mary Slessor Limbe

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Quantitative Data ◽

Complementary Feeding ◽

Tertiary Education ◽

Feeding Practices ◽

Urban Setting ◽

Information Support ◽

World Health ◽

Practical Guidelines ◽

Infants And Young Children

Abstract Background:Appropriate complementary feeding is a practice with great potential for reduction of nutrition-related diseases and mortalities in children. However, uptake of the recommended World Health Organisation (WHO) infant and young child feeding practices in Kenya remains low. Most previous studies have been done in rural or urban poor populations hence the need to provide practical guidelines for the complementary feeding period in a typical middle-class urban setting. This study investigated complementary feeding practices by caregivers of infants and young children on follow up at Aga Khan University Hospital-Nairobi (AKUH-N) well-baby clinic and the factors influencing compliance with the WHO guidelines.Methods:A total of 290 caregivers of infants and young children aged between nine and twenty-four months were interviewed using a questionnaire. Out of these, 21 were purposively sampled to participate in a qualitative study using in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data while descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate regression analysis were used for quantitative data. A convergent parallel design was used to integrate the qualitative and quantitative data.Results:Out of 290 caregivers interviewed, 125 (43.1%) complied with WHO complementary feeding guidelines. Proportions of underweight and stunting were 6.9% and 1.7%, respectively, while that of overweight was 8.6%. Factors that affected complementary feeding practices included education level of the caregiver, access to information, support from healthcare workers and fear of allergic reactions. Conclusions:Full compliance to WHO complementary feeding guidelines remained below 50%. In addition, the proportion of children who were overweight in this study was double the national average, highlighting a growing trend of obesity in childhood. Some of the factors positively associated with compliance with complementary feeding guidelines included access to multiple sources of information, and support from health workers and family members. Lack of tertiary education of the caregiver, absence of specific and practical guidelines, resource constraints and fear of allergies were found to negatively impact compliance with complementary feeding guidelines.

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Complementary Feeding Practices and Associated Factors Among Infants and Young Children 6–23 Months in Fort Portal Kabarole District Uganda (P11-049-19)

Current Developments in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/cdn/nzz048.p11-049-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

Sharon Bagaaya ◽

Henry Wamani ◽

Richard Kajura

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Low Income ◽

Associated Factors ◽

Complementary Feeding ◽

Dietary Diversity ◽

Feeding Practices ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Child Feeding ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Infants And Young Children

Abstract Objectives To determine the prevalence of appropriate complementary feeding practices and associated factors among infants and young children 6–23 months in Fort Portal municipality Kabarole Uganda Methods A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 206 mothers/caregivers of infants and young children 6–23 months using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Probability proportionate to population size technique was used to select study subjects. A pretested WHO standard questionnaire for measuring infant and young child feeding practices was adopted for assessing complementary feeding practices. Appropriate complementary feeding was defined as attaining both minimum meal frequency and minimum dietary diversity in the last 24 hours. Prevalence ratios and there 95% confidence intervals were generated. Modified poisson regression analysis method was used to generate factors associated with appropriate complementary feeding. Five focus group discussions were conducted to capture participants perceptions on appropriate complementary feeding practices. Results The prevalence of appropriate complementary feeding was 21.4%. Formal employment (PR: 7.05; CI:1.69-29.36), cohabiting (PR: 2.15; CI: 1.10-4.18) and having no child illness (PR: 1.85; CI: 0.88-4.35) were associated with appropriate complementary feeding. Qualitative results showed that inadequate information and low income as major challenges towards appropriate complementary feeding practices. Conclusions Appropriate complementary feeding practices were low. unless interventions such as; health services access and women entrepreneurship are put in place, the inappropriate complementary feeding practices are unlikely to change. Funding Sources Ministry of Health Uganda. Supporting Tables, Images and/or Graphs

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Complementary feeding practices for infants and young children in South Asia. A review of evidence for action post-2015

Maternal and Child Nutrition ◽

10.1111/mcn.12439 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. e12439 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Víctor M. Aguayo

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

South Asia ◽

Complementary Feeding ◽

Feeding Practices ◽

Infants And Young Children

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An Educational Intervention to Promote Appropriate Complementary Feeding Practices and Physical Growth in Infants and Young Children in Rural Haryana, India

Journal of Nutrition ◽

10.1093/jn/134.9.2342 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 134 (9) ◽

pp. 2342-2348 ◽

Cited By ~ 124

Author(s):

◽

Nita Bhandari ◽

Sarmila Mazumder ◽

Rajiv Bahl ◽

Jose Martines ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Educational Intervention ◽

Complementary Feeding ◽

Feeding Practices ◽

Physical Growth ◽

Infants And Young Children

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Breastfeeding and Complementary Feeding Patterns in Namibia

Africa Journal of Nursing and Midwifery ◽

10.25159/2520-5293/4537 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Nelago Indongo ◽

Klemens Mutorwa

Keyword(s):

Child Health ◽

Young Children ◽

Time Course ◽

Maternity Leave ◽

Complementary Feeding ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Feeding Practices ◽

Breastfeeding Initiation ◽

Solid Foods ◽

Infants And Young Children

Breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices have significant implications for the child health status. In Namibia, the Maternal and Child Health programme has teamed up with the WHO and UNICEF to improve feeding practices of infants and young children. The main objective of this paper is to examine practices of breastfeeding and complementary feeding among mothers with infants and young children aged 0–24 months. The paper focuses on examining the period of breastfeeding cessation by mothers and the time of the introduction of complementary foods. Information was obtained from 9 176 mothers of 16 237 infants and young children aged 0–24 months interviewed during the 2013 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey. A survival analysis was used to explore the effects of different variables on the time course of breastfeeding. Although breastfeeding initiation is quite high, most mothers do not continue to breastfeed to 24 months. Among children aged between 0 and 24 months, only 28.2 per cent were still breastfed, and continued breastfeeding is lowly practiced with only 6.1 per cent of children between 20 and 24 months still breastfed. A significant proportion of infants were introduced to solid foods before the recommended age of six months with 31.3 per cent given some solid foods. Developing a breastfeeding culture that involves increasing the duration of maternity leave for working mothers should be considered.

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