COMPLEMENTARY FEEDING PRACTICES AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS AMONGST 7- 12 MONTHS INFANTS IN RURAL AREAS OF KAMRUP DISTRICT, ASSAM.

Background: Faulty feeding practices of infants in India generally arise from ignorance and wrong food beliefs .These are mainly responsible for aggravating malnutrition.Physical growth, brain development that occurs during infancy period is extensive and largely irreversible .Any investment after this period are less likely to improve the nutritional status. Objective: To assess the complementary feeding practices and nutritional status amongst 7-12 months infants in rural area of Kamrup, Assam. Materials and Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st February 2014 to 31st July 2014. Considering the prevalence of complementary feeding amongst 7-12 months infants in rural areas of Assam as 67% (DLHS-3), absolute precision of 7% and design effect of 2, sample size was calculated as 360. Cluster sampling method was used to select 12 villages. From each village 30 infants were selected to get a total of 360 study subjects. Results: Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months was 66% ; 46.2% of infants were receiving complementary foods at the completion of 6 months, 58% were receiving minimum meal frequency (MMF), 55% were receiving minimum dietary diversity(MDD),52%were receiving minimum acceptable diet (MAD). Prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting at one year was found to be 44%, 43.2% and 45.6% respectively. Conclusion: Higher prevalence of malnutrition was noticed in infants with inappropriate complementary feeding practices (p<0.0001).