A comparative study on complementary feeding pattern among mothers/caregivers of children aged 6 to 23 months in selected rural villages of Osun State Nigeria

Inappropriate complementary feeding is a determinant of malnutrition among young children in developing countries. The study compared complementary feeding practices of mothers/caregivers nursing children aged six to twenty three months in selected villages of Ife East Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria. The study design was a comparative cross sectional. Three of the villages were participating in Agricultural Extension Programme (AEP) activities of the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife, Nigeria, while the other three were comparison villages. Five hundred and eighteen caregiver–child pairs were recruited for the study by convenience sampling method.Quantitative data was collected from mother-child pair with interviewer administered questionnaire that obtained information of socio-demographic characteristics, complementary feeding practices among other relevant pieces of information.. Of the 518 caregiver–child pairs,, 257 (49.6%) and 261 (50.4%) were from the Agricultural Extension Programme and comparison villages respectively The feeding practices of the mothers differed by age of the children. While 19.5% and 19.4% of women in both AEP and comparison villages respectively reported good feeding practices for children aged 6-11 months, those with children aged 12-23 months had a much higher proportion (78.2% and 85.1% ) (p< 0.05) with comparison villages having reported a higher feeding practices.