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Abstract

Statement of the Problem: The period for complementary feeding is crucial for growth, development and overall health of infants and young children. Lack of awareness in knowledge and practices towards complementary feeding among mothers will lead to improper practice of complementary feeding which may causes of children malnutrition, slower in recovery after illness and death. Hence, this study was aimed to assess complementary feeding knowledge, practice, and dietary diversity and associated factors among mothers of children 6-23 months of age in Guto Gida District, Oromia, Ethiopia. Community based cross sectional study design was conducted among 410 mothers who had children aged 6-23 months in the study area. Cluster and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the required sample. A face to face interview was conducted to collect data using semi-structured and structured questionnaire. In addition, focus group discussion was also included in this study. Findings: The result of this study revealed that about one-third (33.7%) of the mothers had poor knowledge toward complementary foods. Besides to this, nearly half (47.8%) of the mothers had poor practices toward complementary feeding. Furthermore, the majority (72.7%) of the mothers had fed their children < 4 food groups whereas only 27.3% of the mothers had given � 4 food groups. The overall findings were indicative of the problems of mothers� knowledge and feeding practice toward complementary foods, and dietary diversity of 6-23 months of age children. Therefore, all possible interventions should be applied by all the concerned bodies to improve mothers� knowledge and practice towards complementary foods, dietary diversity of children and thus to improve child survival.

Biography

Tamene Daba Rumicha is a researcher and lecturer in Wollega University, college of agriculture. He has an experience in laboratory works, field researches and community services in different areas of the rural society.