Aatekah Owais|Parminder S. Suchdev|Benjamin Schwartz|David G. Kleinbaum|A. S. G. Faruque|Sumon Kumar Das|Aryeh D. Stein
Maternal knowledge and attitudes towards complementary feeding in relation to timing of its initiation in rural Bangladesh
Emory University|Emory University|Los Angeles County Department of Public Health|Emory University|International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research|International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research|Emory University
initiation complementary feeding often delayed bangladesh likely contributes high burden infant undernutrition countrypregnant women 2832 weeks gestation recruited cohortbased evaluation communitybased nutrition education program identify predictors timing introduction solidsemisolidsoft foods complementary feeding initiation prospectively interviewed 2078women 1042 intervention area 1036 control area time recruitment child age 3 9 mo maternal knowledge attitudes towards complementary feeding nutritional importance cost complementary foods assessed child age 3 months two scales created sum correct responses tertiles created analysis knowledge 07 89 1015 attitudes 1825 26 2734 infant age complementary feeding initiation characterized early 4 months timely 56 months late 7 months based maternal recall child age 9 mo used stratified polytomous logistic regression adjusted socioeconomic status infant gender maternal age literacy parity identify predictors early late vs timely complementary feeding initiationcomplementary feeding initiation early 7 timely 49 late 44 infants 19 mothers knew recommended age complementary feeding initiation knowledge score associated timely complementary feeding initiation mothers favorable attitudes highest attitudes score tertile likely initiate late complementary feeding compared lowest attitudes score tertile adjusted 22 95 ci 1144late introduction complementary foods still widely prevalent bangladesh improved maternal knowledge favorable attitudes towards complementary feeding associated timely introduction complementary foods indicating factors likely determine timing complementary feeding initiation presents avenue future research