Complementary Feeding Practices and Associated Factors for Infants Attending Hawasa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Sidama Region, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Complementary feeding is defined as the process of starting additional food when breast milk alone is no longer sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of infants. Inadequate infant feeding are the major causes of infant mortality and under-nutrition. Yet, very little is known about the determinants of complementary feeding practices in study area. This study assessed complementary feeding practices and associated factors for infants in Hawasa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Sidama Region, Ethiopia. Methods Cross sectional study design was used to assess complementary feeding practices and associated factors for infants attending Hawasa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. Result Three hundred and ninety-five (395) mothers or caregivers were interviewed during the study making the response rate of 100%. More than half (66.3%) of respondents reported that they knew the reason for initiating complementary feeding while 58.9% knew when to start the complementary feeding for their infants; however 58.5% of them did not know the minimum frequency of complementary feeding in a day. The mean meal frequency for infants was 4.35 (± 1.24) (95% CI 3.3–3.6). The results show that only 19% of infants consume a minimum acceptable diet, 16% achieve minimum dietary diversity, and 44% reach minimum meal frequency. Multivariate regression analysis shows that mother’s/care taker’s knowledge about proper complementary feeding, mother’s age, mother’s employment status and father’s employment status are significant predictors of complementary feeding practices among infants aged 6–24 months in the study area. Conclusion Infants’ complementary feeding practices fell below the World Health Organization recommended level in terms of minimum acceptable diet and minimum meal frequency and minimum dietary diversity among infants aged 6–24 months in Hawasa University Comprehensive Specialized hospital. It’s important to raise awareness of mothers/care takers of infants through health practitioners in addition to ensuring employment of infants’ parents to ensure proper practices of complementary feeding among infants.