ABSTRACT

This work knowledge, attitude and practice of recommended complementary feeding among mothers of infant 6-23 months was done in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. Therefore, to actualize the main objective of this research work the following five specific objectives were used; the Socio-demographic characteristics of mothers in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria, the age of introduction of complementary food, the Complementary feeding knowledge of the mothers in the study area, the attitudes of mothers on complementary infant feeding in the study area, the practice of complementary feeding and factors associated with complementary feeding. In the quest to perfect this research; cross-section survey research design was used; data were sourced primarily through questionnaire instrument distributed randomly to the mothers. Thus, two hundred (200) sample size and responses were gathered and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The analysis however made the following findings; most 63.5% of the respondents were within the age 26 to 33 years old, 54.5% attended tertiary education, 39.5% were self-employed, 32.0% earned N21,000 to N30,000 per month, 97.5% were the child’s mother and 88.5% of them delivered at the clinic. Majority 75.0% of the respondents said apart from breastmilk other foods should be introduced to infants at 6 months old. More than half 52.5% gave watery porridge to their infants at 6 months, 88.0% said breastmilk alone is not enough and it is important to give food in addition to breastmilk to infants from 6 months and 94.5% said egg and vegetables are foods or type of foods that can be added to rice porridge to make it more nutritious. The knowledge of complementary feeding of the mother showed that 58.5% had good knowledge 37.5% had average knowledge and 4% had poor knowledge. Attitude of Mothers on Complementary Feeding showed that 72.4% depict good attitude, 23.4% average attitude and 4.2% had poor attitude. Most 61.0% of the respondents said at 6 months old is the age a child should be given semi-solid or solid food, majority 86.5% gave pap or custard first. Most 52.0% of the respondents information on complementary feeding were factors affecting complementary feeding. The age other foods should be introduced to infants apart from breastmilk and foods to be given to the infants at 6 months, good complementary foods negatively influenced the decision to their complementary feeding. Inconclusion, 6 months were the age other foods should be introduced to infants apart from breastmilk.