Infant Young Child Feeding Practices in an Indian Maternal-Child Birth Cohort in Belgavi, Karnataka

Poor infant young child feeding (IYCF) practices result in malnutrition, poor psychosocial development, poor school performance, and less productivity in later life thereby perpetuating a vicious cycle. The current study aims to characterize the adequacy of IYCF practices during the first year of life in a maternal-child birth cohort (DHANI) in Belgavi, Karnataka, India. We collected data from the dyad at birth, 6 and 12 months postpartum. We examined dietary diversity among these infants at 12 months using WHO criteria.

A total of 902 live births were recorded and 878 mother child pairs completed the 12-month follow up. The overall prevalence of early (within 1 hour of delivery) initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF) was 77.9%, and that of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) at 6 months was 52.4%. At 12 months, most (90%) infants were still breastfed, while 39% also received formula. The large majority (94.4%) of infants met minimum meal frequency (MMF) but only 55% of infants were receiving a minimum acceptable diet (MAD). The mean dietary diversity (MDD) score was 4.7±1.1. Only 21.9% of infants consumed egg and/or flesh food. A large proportion (33.8%) of infants received no vegetables and/or fruits till 12 months of age.

Consumption of sweet beverage was 4.8% but consumption of ultra-processed foods high in trans-fats, sugars and salt was high (85.8%). High-quality sustainable and scalable interventions to enhance knowledge and support positive behaviour change for adopting and implementing better IYCF practices may be urgently needed in low- and middle-income group settings to improve diet diversity and overall nutritional intake amongst young children.