Appropriate complementary feeding practice and associated factors among mothers of children aged 6-23 months in Bhimphedi rural municipality of Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Appropriate complementary feeding plays a crucial role in the enhancement of child survival; and promotes healthy growth and development. Evidence has shown that appropriate complementary feeding is effective in preventing malnutrition and child mortality. Thus, the main objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of appropriate complementary feeding practice and associated factors among mothers of children aged 6-23 months.

METHODOLOGY: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from August to December 2018. A total of 259 mothers who had children aged 6-23 months were selected randomly from the 714 eligible mothers. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from the respondents. The data were collected in a tablet phone-based questionnaire using the Open Data Kit mobile application by face-to-face interview. Data analysis was done in SPSS version 21. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the factor associated with appropriate complementary feeding practice.

RESULT: The prevalence of appropriate complementary feeding practice was 25%. Mother and father with formal education (AOR 6.1, CI: 1.7-22.4 and AOR 5.6 CI: 1.5-21.2 respectively), counseling on IYCF (AOR 4.2, CI: 1.5-12.3), having kitchen garden (AOR 2.4, CI: 1.1-5.2) and food secured family (AOR 3.0, CI: 1.0-8.9) had higher odds of appropriate complementary feeding practice.

CONCLUSION: This study revealed that a significant proportion of mothers had inappropriate complementary feeding practice for their children aged 6-23 months. This study highlights the need for behavior change communication and promotion of kitchen garden to address the associated factors and promote appropriate complementary feeding practice.