Understanding mother's knowledge about complementary feeding and the anthropometric assessment of infants

Introduction: Complementary feeding (CF) is a process in which the infant goes from being fed exclusively breast milk to consuming liquid or solid foods. During this stage, parents are the ones who choose food, therefore, they must have adequate knowledge to avoid eating habits that are harmful to the health and future of the child. Objective: Determine the relationship between the level of knowledge of mothers about complementary feeding and anthropometric evaluation of breastfeeding children. Methods: This work has a quantitative approach, non-experimental design, cross-sectional and descriptive scope. The sample was 28 mothers who came with their children between 6-24 months to the Mulalillo Child Development Center (CDI), in Ecuador, to whom the surveys were applied and the children had anthropometric measurements taken, finally the data were analyzed in SPSS. Results: There is a moderate correlation between the mothers' level of knowledge about CA and the nutritional status of the infants, with a Spearman's Rho of 0.483 and a statistically significant relationship with a value of 0.009. Conclusions: There is a relationship between the mothers' level of knowledge about AC with the socioeconomic level, family risk and the nutritional status of the infants. Poor knowledge about AC is linked to a higher risk of suffering from malnutrition, being overweight or obesity.