FEEDING PROFILE, DIARRHEA MORBIDITY, AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS IN INFANTS OF 6-12 MONTHS IN BEDELE TOWN, SOUTH WEST ETHIOPIA

Background: Infant feeding practices are influenced by the family ,environment, by information provided by health professionals and also by the media, through advertising by food manufacturers. Diarrheal diseases are amongst the most frequent childhood illnesses and the leading cause of preventable death, especially among children under five in developing countries Objective: To assess feeding profile, diarrheal morbidity, and associated factors among 6-12 month infants in Bedele town Southwest Ethiopia, 2022 Methods: A community based cross-sectional study design was conducted. HHs were used as a sampling unit and kebeles as blocks. the data was entered into epidata manager version 4.2 and exported to SPSS version 20 for management and analysis. descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression was used. candidate variarbles with p-value of < 0.25 in the bivariate analysis were selected to the final multiple logistic regression. significant association was declared with pvalue < 0.05 in multible logistic regression. Result -: Total of 197 mothers participated, with a 99.6% response rate. The prevalence of correct weaning was 96( 48.7% ). The signiificant association between weaning practices ,Home deliver AOR:0.06,95%CI(0.06,0.07), self –Employee AOR:7.65,95%CI(1.16,50.42), Daily laborer house bands AOR: .02,95%CI (.002,.25), Cow’s milk AOR : .11,95%CI (.037,.33), Diarrhea AOR: 3.99, 95%CI (1.51,10.56). The prevalence of diarrhea was 42.13%. significant association with Diarrhea were mothers can’t read &write AOR: 9.86,95%CI (1.03,94.18), read and writes AOR: 9.86,95%CI (1.03,94.18), Elementary school AOR:9.86,95%CI (1.03,94.18), washing feeding materials once per day AOR:19.1; 95% CI:2.11,173.12), Full time house wife AOR: 0.38,95%, CI (0.03,0.48), diarrhea in the last 15 days AOR: 3.99,95% CI (1.511-10.56). Conclusion; The prevalence of correct weaning was 96 (48.8%). The prevalence of diarrhea was 83 (42%). The factors associated significantly with correct weaning were Place of delivery, Mothers occupation, husband occupation, HH income, ingredients given after births, and diarrhea in the last 15 days. The factors associated significantly with diarrhea were Mothers Can’t read &write, read &write, and Elementary school, mother’s Full-time housewife and Self– Employed, HH monthly income, mothers who has given cow’s milk and other ingredient after birth, and one to two times daily washing of feeding materials. Therefore, I recommend all stake holders to stick on those significant.