Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices among mothers of under-two years in a Community in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices are essential to the survival and healthy development of children below 24 months of age. Poor IYCF practices contribute to malnutrition and child mortality, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to describe IYCF practices and determinants of good practices in a community in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

Methods: A community based descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 193 mother-child pairs aged 0–23 months. Data was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and multi-variable logistic regression.

Results: Only 30.6% of the 49 infants aged 0-5 months received exclusive breastfeeding. Among 144 children aged 6-23 months. 61.1% met minimum dietary diversity, 58.3% and 57.6% met minimum meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet (MAD) respectively. Overall, 50.6% of the 193 mothers had good IYCF practices. Significant factors associated with good practices were; caregiver’s age, education, marital status, household income, and age of the child (p < 0.05). Children aged 6–8 months (aOR; 5.08, p =0.003) and 9–11 months (aOR; 3.54. p=0.016) had higher odds of MAD than infants age 0-5 months.

Conclusion: Complementary feeding practices in this community surpasses the national figure, but exclusive breastfeeding rates remain low. Sociodemographic characteristics and income of the caregiver significantly influence IYCF behaviors. Community targeted interventions such as counselling through support groups, maternity protection, and income support may improve IYCF practices especially exclusive breastfeeding.