Predictors of infant and young feeding practices among children 6-23 months old in Bennatsemayworeda, Ethiopia

Abstract

Feeding practices of children under two years directly affect their nutritional status, impacting survival. Many observational studies showed that maternal knowledge of optimal child feeding practices is basic to keep health of a child. However, maternal knowledge, attitude and practices towards child feeding and associated factors of pastoralist children were not well documented in Benna Tsemay Woreda, South Omo Zone, and Southern Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was designed to assess child feeding practices and associated factors among pastoralist children aged 6-23 months in Benna Tsemay Woreda, South Omo Zone, and Southern Ethiopia. A communitybased cross sectional study was conducted among 645 pastoralist children aged 6-23 months from February-March 2016. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select kebeles (smallest administrative unit) and children. Out of 32 kebeles, six were randomly selected. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, 24 hour food recall and focus group discussions. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS for windows version 20.0. Qualitative data was analyzed based on thematic content analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted. Crude odds ratio (COR) and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval were reported. About 45.7% of the mothers didn’t have adequate knowledge about IYCF practices with 54.3% showing poor child feeding. It was found that, 65.6% of the study participated children consumed <4 food groups in the last 24-hrs preceding the survey with mean dietary diversity score (DDS) being 3.7 ± 1.48. However, only 11.5% of the children consumed <3 meals/day with mean meal frequency of 1.88 ± 0.31. This study showed, having large number of under five children (2-4 child) (AOR = 0.46, 95% CI, 0.25-0.86), polygamous marriage (AOR = 0.42, 95% CI, 0.24-0.72), fathers having primray eduction (AOR = 5.24, 95% CI, 1.27-21.52), being from pastoralist (AOR = 10.52, 95% CI, 4.85-22.82), richest wealth quantile household (AOR=23.01, 95% CI, 8.92-59.31), use of treated water (AOR= 3.06, 95% CI, 1.70-5.50), time to fetch water (AOR = 6.24, 95% CI, 3.73-10.44), birth interval between the recent two birth (AOR=2.18, 95% CI, 1.30-3.66)and farming as maternal occupation (AOR=0.08, 95% CI, 0.03-0.20) were significantly associated with maternal knowledge on child feeding (p < 0.05). Being older age mothers (≥ 30 years) (AOR = 0.14, 95% CI, 0.03-0.63), use of treated water (AOR= 12.47, 95% CI, 5.82-26.7), time to fetch water (AOR=1.78, 95% CI, 1.00-3.16), major source of information on child feeding (AOR=0.01, 95% CI, 0.001-0.23), farming as maternal occupation (AOR=0.16, 95% CI, 0.06-0.45), inavailability of health service (AOR=5.81, 95% CI, 2.04-16.5) and minimum dietary diversity (AOR = 2.37, 95% CI, 1.20-4.67) were significantly associated with maternal practice on child feeding of pastoralist children in Benna Tsemay Woreda (p < 0.05). In conclusion, large numbers of mothers have inadequate knowledge and poor practices about IYCF practices with low DDS. Being from pastoralist, large number of under five, elder mothers, polygamous marriage, and poor health service are factors for mother’s inadequate and poor practices towards child feeding. Therefore, the authors recommend interventions targeting on community-based nutrition education on IYCF, dietary diversity, cultural food taboos, and family planning in Benna Tsemay pastoralist community.