Maternal nutrition counselling is associated with reduced stunting prevalence and improved feeding practices in early childhood: a post-program comparison study

Table 3 Maternal practices on child feeding in comparison and intervention area

Characteristics	Comparison area	Intervention area	P ²
Number of children aged < 2 years (N)	769	974
Prelacteal feeding (%)	13.26	9.75	0.022
Initiation of breastfeeding within 1 h of birth (%)	65.93	68.99	0.175
Number of children aged < 6 months (N)	133	256
Exclusive breastfeeding (%)	59.40	72.66	0.008
Number of children aged 6–23 months (N)	612	699
Initiation of complementary feeding by 7 month (%)	69.12	70.10	0.700
Having 4+ food groups out of 7 groups¹ in last 24 h (%)	34.12	42.90	0.001
Minimum acceptable diet in last 24 h (%)	25.31	31.20	0.017
Ever fed multiple micro-nutrient powder in last 6 months (%)	7.39	16.16	< 0.001
Effectively fed multiple micro-nutrient powder in last 6 months (%)	0.94	3.76	0.001

¹ 7 food groups: 1) grains, roots and tubers; 2) legumes and nuts; 3) dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese); 4) flesh foods (meat, fish, poultry and liver/organ meats); 5) eggs; 6) vitamin-A rich fruits and vegetables; 7) other fruits and vegetables
² P-value for the Chi-square test between comparison and intervention areas

ISSN: 1475-2891