Abstract
BackgroundInfant feeding and caregiving by adolescent girls and young women in rural Bangladesh remains relatively understudied despite high potential vulnerability of younger mothers and their children due to poverty and high rates of early marriage and childbearing. This key knowledge gap may hamper the effectiveness of maternal, infant and child health interventions not specifically tailored to teenage mothers. This study aimed to narrow this gap by documenting key barriers to optimal infant and young child feeding and caregiving perceived by adolescent girls and young women in rural Bangladesh.MethodsFocus group discussions and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 70 adolescent girls and young women participating in a community-based adolescent empowerment program in two rural regions of northwestern Bangladesh. Participants were stratified into three groups: unmarried, married without child, and married with child(ren). Thematic analysis was performed to elucidate dominant ideas regarding challenges with child feeding and caregiving across participant strata.ResultsParticipants in all three strata and in both geographical regions attributed actual and anticipated caregiving difficulties to five major contextual factors: early marriage, maternal time allocation conflicts, rural life, short birth intervals, and poverty. Indications are that many girls and young women anticipate difficulties in feeding and caring for their future children from an early age, and often prior to motherhood. Participants articulated both perceived need and unmet demand for additional education in infant and young child feeding, childcare, and family planning techniques.ConclusionsProvision during adolescence of appropriate education, services and financial aid to support best practices for infant feeding and childcare could significantly improve maternal self-efficacy, mental health, nutrition security and young childcare, nutrition and health in rural Bangladesh. Lessons learned can be applied in future programs aimed at supporting adolescent women along a continuum of care.
Highlights
Infant feeding and caregiving by adolescent girls and young women in rural Bangladesh remains relatively understudied despite high potential vulnerability of younger mothers and their children due to poverty and high rates of early marriage and childbearing
While we did not set out to exclude unmarried mothers, there were no young women characterized by this profile in the Social and Financial Empowerment of Adolescents (SoFEA) clubs from which we sampled
Taken together, the themes expressed by the participants in this study echo the findings of previous research in Bangladesh [35] that poverty and vulnerability to economic crisis are significant barriers to later marriage and delayed childbearing, even among girls and young women aware of the risks associated with early marriage and childbearing
Summary
Infant feeding and caregiving by adolescent girls and young women in rural Bangladesh remains relatively understudied despite high potential vulnerability of younger mothers and their children due to poverty and high rates of early marriage and childbearing. This key knowledge gap may hamper the effectiveness of maternal, infant and child health interventions not tailored to teenage mothers. Interest in adolescent girl-child development interventions has increased worldwide, with foci ranging from health and education to economic empowerment [1,2,3]. Marriage in Bangladesh is associated with higher rates of intimate partner violence [9], high education dropout rates and decreased earning potential [4]
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