Prevalence of Complementary Feeding Indicators and Associated Factors Among 6- to 23-Month Breastfed Infants and Young Children in Poor Rural Areas of China.

Jing Liu,Ou Wang,Jing Sun,Junsheng Huo,Jian Huang,Weiyi Gong

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.691894

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.691894

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Abstract

This study aimed to estimate the status of complementary feeding (CF) and its associated factors among 6–23-month breastfed infants and young children (IYC). We used secondary data from the China Nutrition Improvement Project on Children in Poor Areas in 2018. The status of CF was provided by parents of IYC through 24-h dietary recall. The study included 13,972 6–23-month-old breastfed IYC comprising 24.7% 6–8-month, 28.5% 9–11-month, 31.4% 12–17-month, and 18–23-month IYC. The highest percentage of IYC introduced to cereal foods was 84.8%. Nearly, 83.6% of 6–8-month infants were introduced to solid or semi-solid food. The prevalence of meeting requirements of non-dairy animal source food and minimum acceptable diet (MAD) was 75.3 and 35.1% of 6–23-month IYC, respectively, and was significantly higher in older than younger IYC (p < 0.001). Age of IYC, education level of parents, paternal employment, and nutrition knowledge of parents were positively associated factors for the prevalence of meeting requirements of MAD, and diarrhea at 2 weeks and maternal employment were negatively associated with MAD. Totally, the prevalence of meeting the requirements of MAD was relatively lower in breastfed IYC. The government should scale up appropriate CF with consideration of food availability.

Highlights

And adequate complementary food in infants and young children (IYC) should be introduced between the ages of around 6 months and 2 years old and can affect nutritional and health status in later life [1, 2]
The primary outcome was to investigate the prevalence of complementary feeding (CF), which includes Non-dairy animal source food (NDASF), minimum dietary diversity (MDD), minimum meal frequency (MMF), and minimum acceptable diet (MAD), which were still low, but they improved with age
Age of the breastfed IYC, parents graduated from middle school or above, fathers were employed, and nutrition knowledge score more than three were protective factors for the prevalence of meeting MAD requirements

Summary

Introduction

And adequate complementary food in IYC should be introduced between the ages of around 6 months and 2 years old and can affect nutritional and health status in later life [1, 2]. The period from 6 months to 2 years is a crucial period in the life of a child in which appropriate complementary food can reduce infant morbidity and mortality and improve nutritional status, growth, and cognitive development [3, 4]. Inappropriate complementary feeding (CF) during this critical window is a significant cause of malnutrition, which increases the risk of stunting, wasting, underweight, or overweight [5, 6]. To improve the status of infant feeding, WHO and UNICEF have produced strategies and guidelines [2, 7, 8].

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