Infant and young child feeding practices associated with nutritional status among children attending child welfare clinic in Kericho County, Kenya

Abstract

Background: Breastfeeding is widely recognized as the gold standard for infant feeding in the first six months of life, providing essential nutrients and antibodies for optimal growth and development. However, suboptimal breastfeeding practices and inadequate complementary feeding can contribute to malnutrition. This study assessed complementary feeding practices associated with nutritional status in breastfed children. Materials and methods: The study population were children aged 6 to 59 months in Kericho County. The study was designed as an institutional based cross-sectional survey of children seen in Kericho County Referral Hospital and Kakaptet Sub- County Hospital. Simple random sampling was used to select 172 study participants across these hospitals. Descriptive statistics, chi square and Fischer’s exact tests were carried out. Additionally, both unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio were obtained using multinomial regression analysis. Ethical standards were strictly adhered to throughout the study. Results: Findings revealed that 75 (43.6%) children were aged between 24 and 59 months, 55 (32%) were aged 9 to 23 months and 42 (24.4%) were aged 6 to 8 months. Approximately two-thirds of caregivers had attained secondary education (n=77, 44.8%). Stunting was prevalent in 25% of the children, while both wasting and underweight affected 23.8%. Approximately 39% of caregivers introduced their children to complementary feeds before six months of age. Only 39.2% of children aged 6 to 23 months consumed five or more food groups for minimum dietary diversity (MDD). In the study, 95.9% of the children met the recommended minimum meal frequency (MMF), but only 39.2% had the minimum acceptable diet (MAD). Conclusion: Introduction of complementary food after 6 months reduced the likelihood of wasting and stunting. Implementing targeted nutrition interventions for children aged 6 to 59 months in Kericho County is imperative.