ASSESSING THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF MOTHERS ON COMPLEMENTARY FEEDING OF INFANTS, AGED 6-23 MONTHS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY IN TAMALE

Abstract

The time of initiation of complementary feeding marks the beginning of a child susceptibility and risk of nutritional deficiency or excesses. According to the Ghana Statistical Service Infant mortality rate in Ghana is 41 deaths per 1,000 live births, whilst 19% of children in Ghana are stunted, 5% wasted, and 11% are underweight to (GSS et al.2015). Be that as it may, only 2 in 10 mothers’ practice optimal complementary feeding in Ghana (Permenkes, 2018). The study was focused on assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers with children aged 6-23 months in the tamale metropolis. The study used a facility based cross-sectional study design. A total of 202 mothers with children aged 6-23 months were sampled. Data was collected using questionnaire. Data was downloaded on an excel sheet and analyzed with SPSS version 20. Out Of the 202 mothers sampled about 89.6% of them knew the right age to initiate complementary feeding, 87.7% appropriately practiced complementary feeding and about 83.7% of mothers attained minimum dietary diversity. However, meal frequency at age 9-11 months and 12-23 months slightly differed (91.1%) and (90.1%) with relatively low (62.4%) frequency of feeding at age 6-8months. Whiles only 34.2% achieved minimum acceptable diet. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that mothers who gave birth at the hospital [AOR-5.5;95% Cl (1.82-16.68) p=0.002] were 5 times more likely to give divers diet than those who delivered at homes. Rural dwellers were about 4 times (3.7) more likely not to practice appropriate complementary feeding as compared to the urban dwellers [AOR—3.7; 95% Cl (1.41-9.54), p= 0.008.] Except for minimum acceptable diet which was observed to be low among infants, findings from the study showed high knowledge and appropriate practices among mothers.