Abstract
BackgroundExclusive BF till the age of 6 months is rare in developing countries and complimentary feeding (CF) are introduced at an early age which is linked to the development of chronic conditions such as childhood obesity, celiac disease, diabetes, and eczema. The aim of our work is to assess complementary feeding practices of infants under the age of 2 years and to study their impact on their growth and development. This study is a cross-sectional study that was carried out over 3 years between March 2016 and March 2019, included 1000 apparently healthy infants aged less than 2 years old who attended University Children Hospital, Egypt. Practices among mothers including timing and types of foods introduced. Semi-structured questionnaire used for data collection and anthropometric measurements analyzed following the WHO Growth Charts.ResultsThe study found that about 80% of infants were introduced to solid foods before 4 months of age. Also, a large number of infants were given liquids other than breast milk before completing their fourth month of age.ConclusionDespite the better mental development of the infants, there is a considerable gap between WHO Guiding Principles for Complementary Feeding and the practices among mothers of infants aged less than 2 years in Egypt.
Highlights
Exclusive BF till the age of 6 months is rare in developing countries and complimentary feeding (CF) are introduced at an early age which is linked to the development of chronic conditions such as childhood obesity, celiac disease, diabetes, and eczema
A random sample of 1000 apparently healthy infants who attended for routine check-ups or vaccinations and fulfilling the inclusion criteria, namely, age is less than 2 years, full term and appropriate for gestational age were recruited in the research
Our study showed that 81.8% of mothers practiced BF which is consistent with results of two studies; 96% in the Egypt Demographic and Health Survey 2014 (EDHS) study 2014 [12], and 99.6% in a study done in Ethiopia [13]
Summary
Exclusive BF till the age of 6 months is rare in developing countries and complimentary feeding (CF) are introduced at an early age which is linked to the development of chronic conditions such as childhood obesity, celiac disease, diabetes, and eczema. The aim of our work is to assess complementary feeding practices of infants under the age of 2 years and to study their impact on their growth and development. Solid food consumption has been linked to the development of chronic conditions such as childhood obesity, celiac disease, diabetes, and eczema [6]. The aim of our work is to assess complementary feeding practices of mothers of infants under the age of 2 years and to study their impact on their growth and development
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