Aatekah Owais|Benjamin Schwartz|David G. Kleinbaum|Parminder S. Suchdev|A. S. G. Faruque|Sumon Kumar Das|Aryeh D. Stein
Minimum Acceptable Diet at 9 Months but Not Exclusive Breastfeeding at 3 Months or Timely Complementary Feeding Initiation Is Predictive of Infant Growth in Rural Bangladesh
Emory University|Los Angeles County Department of Public Health|Emory University|Emory University|International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research|International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research|Emory University
association suboptimal infant feeding practices growth faltering wellestablished however evidence comes crosssectional studies prospectively assess association suboptimal infant feeding practices growth faltering interviewed pregnant women 2832 weeks gestation followedup offspring postnatal months 3 9 16 24 months rural bangladesh using maternal recall past 24 hours exclusive breastfeeding ebf status 3 months age complementary feeding cf initiation receipt minimum acceptable diet mad defined 9 months assessed infant length weight measurements used produce lengthforage laz weightforlength wlz zscores followup generalized estimating equations used estimate associations laz wlz infant feeding practices models adjusted baseline ses infant sex maternal height age literacy parity followup completed 2189 2074 1969 1885 motherchild dyads 3 9 16 24 months respectively stunting prevalence increased 28 57 infant age 3 24 months ebf 3 months age cf initiation associated linear infant growth receipt mad 9 months age 24 months infants receiving mad attained higher laz compared infants receive mad adjusted 025 95 ci 013037 although prevalence stunting already high age 3 months ensuring infants receive diverse high quality diet 6 months onwards may reduce rates stunting second year life