Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices among Mothers of Children 6-23 Months Old Attending the Immunisation Clinic of a Private Tertiary Health Institution in Nigeria

BACKGROUND

Globally, childhood malnutrition remains a major public health issue. It is thus imperative to contextually analyse Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices in resource-poor settings like Nigeria.

STUDY OBJECTIVES

This study assessed key complementary feeding indicators among 6-23-month-old children attending the immunization clinic of Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Nigeria.

METHODOLOGY

Cross-Sectional design was employed, and Systematic Random Technique used to recruit 198 consenting caregivers. Validated interviewer-administered, semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out.

RESULTS

Mean±SD age of the children was 11.27±5.16 months. Only 57.6% of the infants had breastfeeding within 1-hour of life. Not less than 91.4% of the infants had Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) but Infant formula was the main breastmilk substitute among children without EBF. In all, 83.0% of the infants had Minimum Meal Diversity, 90.4% had Minimum Meal Frequency but only 57.6% had Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD). The significant predictors of MAD were early commencement of breastfeeding, reception of complementary feeding counselling during pregnancy, EBF practice and whether the child had MUAC which was at least 11cm.

CONCLUSION

IYCF practices was sub-optimal in the studysetting. There is urgent need for policy makers to design evidence-informed strategic framework for effective implementation and evaluation of the existing IYCF policy in Nigeria. Emphasis should be placed on complementary feeding education/counselling using relevant Information, Education and Communication (IEC) channels/materials. Good IYCF practices ensure optimum child growth/ development, prevent childhood diseases, and can ultimately help Nigeria to attain SDG-3 by 2030.