Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Lactating Mothers on Complementary Feeding in Jimma Arjo Town, Eastern Wollega Zone, Western Ethiopia

Abstract

A community based cross sectional study was conducted from March up to May 2014 among lactating mother in Jimma Arjo town, Eastern Wollega Zone. A systematic sampling technique was used to select study subjects and structured pretested questionnaire to collect the data. A total of 213 lactating mothers were enrolled in the study. Majority 72.3% of mothers started the complementary diet at appropriate age to their children. Most of the respondents, 195 (91.6%) were agree on infants have to only feed breast milk up to six month. Some of the respondents 205 (96.2%) have cultural related influence on administration of additional foods to children. The most frequently used diet for complementing was cow’s milk followed by shiro fitfit; which have low nutritional value to the baby and only 46.5% of children fed more than 4 times per 24 hrs. The community knowledge, attitude and practice on complementary feedingwas relatively good but the most frequently used food for complementary diet is cow milk which has low nutritional value for the children. Thus, proper health education should be given to dietary quality and quantity    for complementary feeding in the study area

Keywords: Complementary Feeding, Knowledge, Lactating Mother, Jimma Arjo Town