A Study on Complementary Feeding Practices and Diet Quality among Tribal Populations in North-East India

Introduction: Complementary feeding practices have a significant impact on life from childhood to adulthood. It is important to understand the practices followed to bring about policy changes. The study aims to assess complementary feeding practices among the tribal population of North-East India.

Material and Method: A community-based, cross sectional study was conducted among 820 pairs of mother and child in two North-Eastern states of India, using a pre-tested questionnaire based in Infant and Young Child feeding Guidelines.

Results: In the study it was seen that, majority of the study population (73.7%) followed timely introduction of complementary feeding. The type of food commonly used as introductory food were rice (62.8%) and commercial infant formulae (18.66%). Infant and Young Child Feeding indicators such as intake of Minimum Diet Diversity (32.2%), and Minimum acceptable diet (30.85%) were found to be inadequate except for Minimum meal frequency where it was found to be on the higher side at 93.8%.

Conclusion: The feeding practices were found to be unhealthy. It is recommended more intensive awareness generation activities along with emphasis on diverse dietary intake be taken up to improve health literacy to bring about a conducive environment for holistic the growth and development of the individual, society and nation as a whole.