Abstract
BackgroundInappropriate feeding practice increases risk of under nutrition, illness, and mortality amongst children less than 2 years of age. The objective of this study is to assess minimum dietary diversity, meal frequency and its associated factors among infant and young children aged 6–23 months in Dangila Town, Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA community based cross sectional study was conducted. Simple random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Interviewer administered questionnaire were used. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses was employed to identify factors associated with minimum dietary diversity and meal frequency.ResultsA total of 920 children 6–23 months were included. Proportion of children who met the minimum dietary diversity and meal frequency was 12.6 and 50.4 %, respectively. Mothers education [AOR =2.52], age of a child [AOR = 2.05], birth order of index child [AOR = 2.08], living in urban area [AOR = 2.09], having home gardening [AOR = 2.03], and media exposure [AOR = 2.74] were positively associated with dietary diversity. Moreover, age of the child [AOR = 3.03], birth order of index child [AOR = 1.58], mothers involvement in decision making [AOR = 1.51], media exposure [AOR = 2.62], and having postnatal visit [AOR = 2.30] were positively associated with meal frequency.ConclusionThe proportion of children who received minimum dietary diversity and meal frequency was low. Being at younger age, first birth order, and lack of media exposure affect both dietary diversity and meal frequency. Increasing mother’s education, home gardening, mass media promotion and empowering women in decision making are highly recommended to increase dietary diversity and meal frequency.
Highlights
Inappropriate feeding practice increases risk of under nutrition, illness, and mortality amongst children less than 2 years of age
The present study found that only 12.6 % of children received the recommended dietary diversity, which is lower as compared with the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) reports of developing countries from Africa, Asia, and Latin America [10]
This low dietary diversity coverage is similar with different studies conducted in Ethiopia (10.8 %) [9], Democratic Republic of Congo (12 %), Burkina Faso (14 %), Mali (16 %), and India (15.2 %) [10, 11]
Summary
Inappropriate feeding practice increases risk of under nutrition, illness, and mortality amongst children less than 2 years of age. The objective of this study is to assess minimum dietary diversity, meal frequency and its associated factors among infant and young children aged 6–23 months in Dangila Town, Northwest Ethiopia. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), indicators of proper complimentary feeding are starting of solid, semi-solid or soft foods, minimum meal frequency, minimum dietary diversity, minimum acceptable. Inappropriate complementary feeding practices increase the risk of under nutrition, illness, and mortality in infants and young children less than 2 years of age [5, 6]. Greater than two-thirds of malnutrition related child deaths are associated with inappropriate feeding practices during the first two years of life in such a way that infants and young children received inadequately nutritious diets, poorly diversified and infrequently feeding [7]. Malnourished children who survive are getting more frequently sick and suffer from life-long consequences of malnutrition in their life and perhaps the effect will span generation [6, 7].
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