Mothers' Knowledge and Practices about Complementary Feeding for their Breast-fed Children at El Behaira Governorate | ||||
| Alexandria Scientific Nursing Journal | ||||
| Volume 16, Issue 1, July 2014, Page 141-168 PDF (581.42 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Research articles | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/asalexu.2014.205586 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| Abeer Abdelazziz Madian* ; Naglaa Abduallah Hussein | ||||
| Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Damanhour University | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Background: Adequate nutrition is critical to child health and development. Growth during the first year of life is greater than at any other time after birth. Improving infant and young child feeding practices is therefore critical to improved nutrition, health, and development of children. Objective: This study aimed to is to assess mothers' knowledge and practices about complementary feeding for their Breast-fed Children at El Behaira Governorate. Setting: The study was carried out at El Behaira Governorate. Subjects: The study sample included 400 mothers. Tools: Data was collected through face-to-face interviewing questionnaire of mothers’ with breast fed children. Results: More than half of the mothers (59%) knew that the age of six months is the ideal age for starting complementary feeding, despite that it was practiced by 9% only. The majority of the mothers (95.0%) knew that the cup and spoon are the correct method for food introduction. However 42.8% used bottle with teat in feeding their infants the first feed. More than three quarters of the mothers (79.8%) not able to define complementary feeding as introduction of foods besides breast-feeding. The majority of the mothers (99%) defined weaning as cessation of breast-feeding. More than half of mothers (59%) involved in this work knew that the infant should consume 2-3 meals /day at age of 6-8 months which was correct answer. Less than half of mothers obtained poor score of knowledge regarding complementary feeding. Infant and young child feeding practices in this study were scarce. Conclusion: There was general lack of awareness of some major recommended practices regarding complementary feeding. Recommendations: This study recommended implementation of health education program in primary health care settings to improve and support the breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices among mothers. Longer paid maternity leave at least for 6 months and reduction in working hours are also recommended. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Complementary feeding; exclusively breastfed; Feeding practices | ||||
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