Premium
Maternal knowledge and attitudes in relation to complementary feeding initiation in rural Bangladesh
Author(s) -
Owais Aatekah,
Kleinbaum David,
Suchdev Parminder,
Faruque Abu Syed,
Das Sumon,
Stein Aryeh
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.898.5
Subject(s) - medicine , logistic regression , literacy , pregnancy , demography , parity (physics) , pediatrics , psychology , pedagogy , physics , particle physics , sociology , biology , genetics
Inappropriate complementary feeding (CF) practices are common in Bangladesh. To identify predictors of the timing of introduction of solid/semi‐solid/soft foods (CF initiation) in rural Bangladesh, we prospectively interviewed 2073 pregnant women at 28 weeks' pregnancy and at postnatal months 3 and 9. We assessed CF knowledge and attitudes at the 3 mo visit. CF initiation was characterized as early (蠄4 mo), timely (5‐6 mo) or late (蠅7 mo), based on maternal recall at the 9 mo visit. We used polytomous logistic regression, adjusted for SES, infant gender, maternal age, literacy and parity. Timely CF initiation was referent.
CF initiation was early for 7%, timely for 49%, and late for 44% of infants. Only 19% of mothers knew the recommended CF initiation age. Knowledge and attitudes tertiles were 0 – 7, 8 – 9, and 10 – 15, and 19 – 29, 30, and 31 – 39, respectively. Mothers with the lowest knowledge tertile were more likely to initiate early CF compared to those with the highest tertile (aOR = 0.6, 95% CI: 0.3 – 0.9). Mothers with the highest attitudes tertile were more likely to initiate late CF compared to those with the lowest tertile (aOR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0 – 1.6). Multiparous mothers were significantly less likely to initiate timely CF compared to those with 1 child (early vs. timely aOR = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.2, 3.1; late vs. timely aOR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.7). SES, infant gender, maternal age and literacy were not associated with age at CF initiation.
Efforts discouraging early CF initiation have been successful but late introduction of foods is still widely prevalent in Bangladesh. Interventions to improve infant nutrition need to promote timely CF initiation.