Factors Responsible for Inappropriate Complementary Feeding Practices

Background: Appropriate complementary feeding is critical for a child's growth and development, particularly from 6 months of age when breast milk alone is no longer sufficient to meet nutritional needs.However, complementary feeding practices remain suboptimal in many settings.Objective: To identify the factors responsible for inappropriate complementary feeding practices among mothers of young children. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the inpatient and outpatient Paediatrics departments of Dhaka Shishu Hospital and the Institute of Child Health & Shishu Sasthya Foundation Hospital (ICH & SSFH), Dhaka, Bangladesh, from September 2009 to December 2009.In this study, we included a total of 400 mothers who were enrolled in the study 200 from Dhaka Shishu Hospital and 200 from ICH & SSFH attending the inpatient and outpatient departments. Results:The mean age of the children was 14.08 3.755 months, with a slightly higher proportion of female participants (54.8%).A majority of mothers were housewives (85.2%) and had only primary education (61%).Most mothers (71.0%) did not receive any counseling on infant feeding during antenatal visits.While 87.0% initiated breastfeeding within the first hour of delivery, only 44.0% began complementary feeding at the recommended age of 6 months.Thin consistency and inadequate quantity of food were common, observed in 74.0% of cases.Family members and media influenced feeding choices in nearly half of the households.Only 21.5% of mothers had correct knowledge about timing, consistency, and quantity of complementary feeding.A statistically significant association was found between maternal education and knowledge of appropriate feeding practices ( = 20.008,p < 0.001). Conclusion:Complementary feeding practices were found to be largely inappropriate in this population.Contributing factors included low maternal education, lack of counseling during antenatal and immunization visits, external influences, and limited awareness of feeding guidelines.Strengthening health education and counseling during routine maternal and child health services is essential to improve complementary feeding practices.