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Inappropriate infant feeding practices are a factor in malnutrition in western Côte d'Ivoire, which can cause several problems. In fact, in this part of the country, 26% of children under the age of 5 are undernourished, and 6% of these children are wasted. In order to assess knowledge and practices regarding infant feeding, this survey was carried out among mother-child pairs at the Regional Hospital Center (RHC) of Man.
This was a descriptive survey carried out from February to March 2023 in the therapeutic nutrition unit of the paediatric department of the RHC of Man. The target population consisted of 250 mother-child pairs attending the unit. The questions mainly focused on the sociodemographic characteristics of the infants, the socio-economic characteristics of the household, supplementary feeding, and information channels related to nutrition and feeding of children aged between 6 and 24 months.
The age group of 12 to 18 months was the most representative (40%), with a female predominance (56%). Exclusive breastfeeding was practiced in only 42% of infants, with early introduction of water in 63.6% between 4 and 6 months. A total of 98.8% of infants were up to date with their vaccination schedules, and 36.4% received medical follow-up. Diversification began before 6 months in 62% of infants, and in the majority of cases, cereal-based porridge was introduced between 4 and 6 months. The introduction of vegetables and meat was delayed, occurring between 7 and 12 months (42.4%) and between 13 and 18 months (28%) respectively. Breastfeeding cessation occurred in 23.6% between 13 and 18 months. The most common difficulties in supplementary feeding were childhood illness (38%) and children's refusal to eat (26%).
Inadequate practices and introduction of complementary foods were noted in the majority of cases. Hence, there is an urgent need to educate mothers on WHO recommendations regarding infant feeding diversification.