Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China.
Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2021 Feb 25;16(2):e0246942. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246942. eCollection 2021.
Appropriate infant and young child feeding practices are the basis for child nutrition. In China, WeChat is gradually changing the channels through which people receive information. The paper aims to explore the feasibility of using WeChat to improve infant and young child feeding in rural China.
A mixed-methods study was carried out in Huzhu County, Qinghai province, China. We conducted two cross-sectional surveys with children aged 6-23 months and their caregivers in 2012 (N = 1804) and 2018 (N = 754), respectively. Quantitative data were collected on feeding knowledge and practices, caregiver's use of smartphones and WeChat. Qualitative data were from 33 semi-structured interviews with pregnant women and mothers. In addition, we developed a WeChat feeding health education platform and asked women about their experiences with using it.
In both cross-sectional surveys, less than 10% of caregivers knew that breastfeeding can be continued up to two years, less than 50% knew the accurate duration of exclusive breastfeeding, and only around 20% knew meat can be given to children from the age of 6-8 months. Similarly, the feeding practices were suboptimal and most key infant feeding practices did not change over the years. Only around 30% of caregivers ever received feeding information during pregnancy or after delivery in both surveys. Around 50% of caregivers received information from their relatives and friends, followed by 30% from health facilities and communities. More than 80% of mothers were currently using both a smartphone and the WeChat app, and 75.4% of them were willing to receive feeding information from WeChat official accounts. The WeChat feeding health education platform developed by our study team was generally well accepted by women.
There was an absence of accurate information sources on infant feeding and child nutrition. WeChat could be a potential way to deliver infant feeding recommendations to pregnant women and mothers in rural China.
ChiCTR-PRC-11001446 (The controlled intervention trial for complementary food supplements "Yingyangbao"); ChiCTR1800017364 (the randomized controlled trial for WeChat).
适当的婴幼儿喂养实践是儿童营养的基础。在中国，微信正逐渐改变人们获取信息的渠道。本文旨在探讨利用微信改善中国农村婴幼儿喂养的可行性。
本研究采用混合方法，在中国青海省互助县开展。我们分别于 2012 年（n=1804）和 2018 年（n=754）对 6-23 月龄儿童及其照料者进行了两次横断面调查。调查内容包括喂养知识和行为、照料者使用智能手机和微信的情况。同时，对 33 名孕妇和母亲进行了半结构化访谈，以获取定性数据。此外，我们还开发了一个微信喂养健康教育平台，并询问了妇女对使用该平台的体验。
在两次横断面调查中，不到 10%的照料者知道母乳喂养可持续至 2 岁，不到 50%的照料者知道纯母乳喂养的准确持续时间，只有约 20%的照料者知道从 6-8 个月开始可以给孩子吃肉。同样，喂养行为也不理想，多年来大部分关键的婴幼儿喂养行为都没有改变。只有约 30%的照料者在两次调查中都在怀孕期间或分娩后收到过喂养信息。约 50%的照料者从亲戚朋友那里获取信息，其次是从卫生机构和社区获取信息。超过 80%的母亲目前同时使用智能手机和微信应用程序，其中 75.4%的母亲愿意通过微信公众号获取喂养信息。本研究团队开发的微信喂养健康教育平台受到了女性的普遍欢迎。
目前缺乏关于婴幼儿喂养和儿童营养的准确信息来源。微信可能是向中国农村地区孕妇和母亲传递婴幼儿喂养建议的一种潜在途径。
ChiCTR-PRC-11001446（辅食补充剂“营养包”的对照干预试验）；ChiCTR1800017364（微信干预的随机对照试验）。
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