Complementary feeding practice and associated factors among children aged 6 to 12 months attending governmental health facilities in Addis Ababa: Ethiopia

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Inappropriate feeding practices, coupled with high rates of infectious diseases, are the proximate causes of malnutrition during the first two years of life. Around 10 million under-five children died annually of which over one-third were due to inappropriate complementary feeding.

OBJECTIVE:

To assess factors associated with timely initiation of complementary feeding among children aged 6 to 12 months in public health care facilities of Addis Ababa Ethiopia.

METHODS:

An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted. Data was collected using a pretested structured questionnaire. Binary and multivariable logistic regressions analyses were performed. Variables with p-value ≤0.05 were considered as statistically significant.

RESULTS:

The proportion of timely initiation of complementary feeding was 65.2% (95% CI = 60.8, 69.5). Being married [AOR = 2.622, 95% CI: 1.182–5.817], belongs to 18–24 years age at first marriage [AOR = 1.671, 95% CI: 1.019–2.742], being grade 9 and above [AOR = 1.910, 95% CI: 1.401–2.258], average income > 1500 Ethiopian birr [AOR = 2.138, 95% CI: 1.762–2.347], and postnatal care follow up [AOR = 1.641, 95% CI:1.435–3.224] were significantly associated with complementary feeding.

CONCLUSIONS:

In this study, the magnitude of timely initiation complementary feeding was higher as compared to the country level figure. Implementing nutrition strategy which scales-up mother’s living standards improve complementary feedings practices.