Socio-demographic and economic characteristics of mothers
A total of 616 mothers paired with 6-23 months children were included in the study which makes the response rate of 98.87%. The mean age of mothers was 29 (±7 SD) years. Most mothers 610 (99%) were married. Concerning the occupational status of the mothers, 529 (85.9%) were house wives. Of total mothers, only 60 (9.7%) were attended college/university. Of all, 436 (70.8%) and 69 (11.2%) mothers were married to husband who is farmer in his occupation and attended college/university respectively. Concerning parity and family size, 295(47.9%) and 377 (61.2%) of mothers had 2-4 live born children and 4-6 members of family. Four hundred fifty-three (73.5%) of the families earn less than 1000ETB per a month [Table 1].
Household food security status
Four hundred thirty-six (70.8%) of the mothers were from food secure HHs and the remaining 180(29.2%) were from food insecure HHs [Table 2].
Own production and home gardening
Four hundred thirty-two (70.1%) had a plot land for home gardening. Four hundred fifty-five (73.9%) of the HHs had livestock. From the respondents,576 (93.5%) had agricultural land. Concerning the availability, 357 (58%) and 246 (39.9%) of respondents reported the availability of fruits and vegetables, and meat, milk and fish in the market respectively. One hundred seventy-seven (28.7%) of the respondents had been getting milk from their own cow and 155(25.2%) had been getting eggs from their own chicken [Table 3].
Maternal Health Care Services
Three hundred fifty-three (57.3%) mothers gave birth at health center. Almost all mothers, 604(98.1%) had ANC (Antenatal Care) follow up at least once. Four hundred forty-one (71.6%) mothers visited for PNC (Postnatal Care). Of 616 mothers, 283(45.9%) followed radio programs regularly [Table 4].
Characteristics of Indexed Child
Three hundred sixteen (51.3%) children were female. Two hundred twenty-nine (37.2%) of the children were under age group of 6-11 months. The mean (+SD) age of children was 14±5.2 months. About half of the children (50.2%) were within the 2-4 birth order. Concerning health status of the sampled children, 580 (94.2%) were healthy within the last two weeks prior to data collection. Among 616 sampled children, 527(85.6%) were vaccinated [Table 5].
Twenty-four hours Dietary assessment
From dietary diversity assessment using 24-hour recall, 284 [46.1%, 95% CI: 42.1-50.0] of mothers/caregivers offered four or more food groups to their children. Thirteen (2%) gave no food other than breast milk [Figure1]. Foods made from grains, cereals, roots and tubers were the highest, 596(96.8%), to be consumed by the children followed by vitamin A rich fruits and vegetables which was consumed by 354(57.5%) of the children [Figure 2].
Factors Associated with Dietary Diversity Feeding
In bivariate logistic regression analysis, maternal age, maternal occupation, maternal education, paternal education, PNC follow up, child age, having livestock, getting milk from own cow, having plot for home gardening, getting egg from own chicken and HH food security status had p values of <0.25[Table 6]. Therefore, they were candidate for multivariable logistic regression analysis.
After applying multivariable logistic regressions analysis, four variables were found to be significantly associated with dietary diversity at p values of <0.05. Mothers in age group 18-24 years were 3.68 times more likely to give adequately diversified diet to their children than mothers who were older [AOR=3.68, 95%CI: 1.18, 6.22]. Mothers who had PNC follow up were 8.8 times more likely to give minimum acceptable dietary diversity to their children than mothers who did not have post-natal care follow up with the last pregnancy [AOR=8.8 95%CI:5.17, 14.98]. Mothers who had 6-11 months age group children were 2 times more likely to give minimum acceptable dietary diversity to their children than mothers of children with age of 18-23 months old [AOR=2.04, 95% CI: 1.24, 3.39]. Mothers who were from food secured HHs were 3.64 times more likely to give minimum acceptable diversified diets to their children than mothers who were from food insecure HHs [AOR=3.64, 95%CI:2.27, 5.84] [Table 6].