Infant and young child feeding practices among mothers of children aged 6 months -2 years in a rural area of Haryana: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND

India, a low-middle income and a developing country is combating with a triple burden of malnutrition with a very cost-effective measure, infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. But there are a lot of challenges in its implementation which need to be catered. The objective of the present qualitative study was to assess IYCF practices among mothers of children aged 6 months to 2 years in a rural area of Haryana.

METHOD

Qualitative study was carried out among mothers of children 6 months-2 years in villages of Ballabgarh block of Haryana using focussed group discussion (FGD) and in-depth interview methods. All recordings of FGDs and IDIs were transcribed into verbatim and codes were generated. Thematic analysis of the transcript of in-depth interview and FGD was performed with the help of Doc Tools in MS Word 2016.

RESULTS

The mothers had good knowledge about breastfeeding, importance of colostrum, and weaning practices of infants and children of less than 2 years. Though there is evidence of some cultural misbeliefs, most of the taboos are obsolete now. There was a knowledge gap regarding initiation and composition of complementary feeding practices. The awareness about food diversity, effects of junk food, and recommended complementary feeding practices was less.

CONCLUSION

There is need of creating awareness among mothers regarding importance of IYCF practices to reduce infant and under 5 mortality in rural area.