Application of the infant and young child feeding index and the evaluation of its relationship with nutritional status in 6-24 months children

Objective To evaluate the complementary feeding practices of mothers in infant and child nutrition using Infant and Young Child Feeding Indicator and Infant and Child Feeding Index and to determine their relationship with nutritional status. Methods Study data were collected through an online questionnaire administered to 141 parents on healthy 6-24 month infants/children. Complementary feeding practices for infants/children were evaluated in line with the Infant and Child Feeding Index and Infant and Young Child Feeding Indicator. In the evaluation of growth, weight for age z-scores, length for age z-scores, and weight for length z-scores of infants/children were calculated with the World Health Organization Anthro program. Results 74.5% of 141 infants and children (71 boys, 70 girls) evaluated in the study are breastfed. The prevalence of stunting, wasted, and underweight was determined as 6.4%, 0.7%, and 4.3%, respectively. When evaluated using Infant and Young Child Feeding Indicator, it was determined that 82.3% of children met the minimum meal frequency, 80.9% met the minimum dietary diversity, and 67.4% met the minimum acceptable diet. Regarding Infant and Child Feeding Index evaluations of the children, while there was no difference between 9-11 and 12-24 month age groups, the mean Infant and Child Feeding Index score in the 6-8 month group was significantly lower than the other age groups ( p =0.000). The Infant and Child Feeding Index scores used to evaluate complementary feeding practices in our study were found to be high in most infants/children. No clear relationship was found between stunting and minimum acceptable diet, minimum dietary diversity or minimum meal frequency, which are indicators of both Infant and Child Feeding Index scores and World Health Organization, Infant and Young Child Feeding Indicator. Conclusion The Infant and Child Feeding Index scores used to evaluate complementary feeding practices in our study were high in most infants/children. In addition, the high rates of MMF, minimum dietary diversity, and minimum acceptable diet coverage in evaluating infants/children in terms of World Health Organization indicators show that they have appropriate complementary feeding practices. However, study found no clear relationship between stunting and minimum acceptable diet, minimum dietary diversity or MMF, which are indicators of both Infant and Child Feeding Index I scores and WHO Infant and Young Child Feeding Indicator. It was concluded that World Health Organization Infant and Young Child Feeding Indicator indicators may be better than length for age z-scores in the weight for length z-scores explanation.