Abstract:
Background: Early introduction of complementary feeding is provision of complementary
foods for infants before the age of six months; which may raise the risk of malnutrition,
illness and infant mortality from global to national level. Although evidence indicates,
magnitude of early complementary feeding initiation has been studied at various levels;
analytical studies addressing its determinants are limited, particularly in study area.
Objective: To identify determinants of early introduction of complementary feeding
among mothers with infants 6-12 months attending Woliso Town health facilities, Oromia,
Ethiopia, 2022.
Methods: Facility based unmatched case-control study was done among 224 mothers with
infant 6-12 months (112 cases and 112 controls) from September to November 2022.
Systematic sampling technique was used to select study participants. Data were collected
via face-to-face interview using structured questionnaire. Data was entered into Epi-info
version 7 and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. Mean, standard deviation,
frequency and percentage were used to describe data. Multi-collinearity was tested using
variance inflation factors. Model fitness was tested by Hosmer and Lemshow goodness of
fit test. Bivariate logistic regression was done and variables with P< 0.25 in bivariate
analysis were added into multivariable logistic regression, with statistical significance was
declared at 95% confidence interval along with adjusted odd ratio and P-value < 0.05.
Results: This study revealed that, mean (±standard deviation) age of the studied infants
was 9.2 months ±1.56 for cases and 8.9 months ±1.69 for controls with majority,
60(53.6%) of cases and 68(60.7%) of controls being male. Maternal employment
(adjusted odd ratio = 4.84; 95% confidence interval: 2.26, 10.37), caesarean delivery
(adjusted odd ratio = 3.57; 95% confidence interval: (1.42, 8.96), not having postnatal
follow up (adjusted odd ratio = 4.66; 95% confidence interval: (1.37, 15.76), mother
perceived inadequacy of breast milk (adjusted odd ratio = 4.11; 95% confidence interval:
(1.94, 8.7) and grandmother influence (adjusted odd ratio = 5.05; 95% confidence
interval: (2.54, 10.02) were determinants of early introduction of complementary feeding.
Conclusion and Recommendation: The findings of this study revealed employed
mothers, caesarean deliveries, mothers with no postnatal follow-up, maternal
perception on breast milk inadequacy and grandmother influence were identified as
determinants of early introduction of complementary feeding. The study's findings
suggest the need for possible interventions on these variables at various levels.
