Maternal knowledge and attitudes towards complementary feeding in relation to timing of its initiation in rural Bangladesh

Table 1 Complementary feeding knowledge and attitudes among 2078 mothers in 2011–2012 in Kishoreganj, Bangladesh, stratified by district of residence and wave of enrollment^a

Knowledge^b	%
	Katiadi^c(n = 1036)	Karimganj, Wave 1 (n = 332)	Karimganj, Wave 2 (n = 359)	Karimganj, Wave 3 (n = 351)
Knew WHO recommended age for complementary feeding initiation is 6 months	28.3	3.9	11.7	2.9
Identified ≥4 food groups for infant’s first foods	92.4	76.8	90.5	91.5
Knew recommended ways to prepare infant’s food	70.9	48.5	88.6	90.6
Identified ≥3 methods of responsive feeding	26.1	19.9	30.9	61.0
Attitudes^b,d
Complementary foods in addition to breastmilk are healthy for infants > 6 months	99.4	99.1	99.7	99.4
Nutritional supplements are affordable and ensure infant has adequate nutrition	37.5	17.8	18.7	20.8
Confident about continued breastfeeding	66.6	77.1	82.5	84.1
Complementary feeding is expensive	96.9	96.4	95.0	98.0

^a Participants were enrolled in three waves between January and February 2011, May and June 2011, and September and October 2011, respectively
^b Assessed at infant age 3 months
^c Participants from all three recruitment waves were pooled in the control district
^d Proportion includes those who ‘Agreed’ or ‘Strongly Agreed’

ISSN: 2055-0928