Mother's views and beliefs about the role of complementary feeding in children under the age of two in Damavand: a qualitative study

Inappropriate feeding is one of the major causes of malnutrition in children. This study was carried out to get an insight into mothers’ views and beliefs about the role of complementary feeding in children under the age of two. In this qualitative study, data were collected through 11 focus-group discussions (FGDs) with mothers, who had children under the age of two, in urban and rural areas of Damavand in 2007. Each FGD was held in the presence of a moderator, two note takers, and an observer. At the end of field work, all notes were collected and coded according to the objectives of the study. Then the subgroups for each objective were obtained, and emerging themes were extracted and reported. In the study, six general themes were identified:(1) The mothers viewed complementary feeding as simple, soft, light foods which are especially made for children; (2) the best time for introducing complementary feeding was 6 months of age; (3) there were no complementary local foods in Damavand; (4) for children under the age of one, a different type of food was separately prepared; (5) home-made complementary food was preferred over the ready made type, and (6) children were fed with table food from the first year of life. Despite their sufficient knowledge about the advantages of complementary feeding, the majority of mothers, due to some socio-cultural limitations, had a weak performance. In this regard, in addition to making revisions in current training programs and protocols, providing effective and goal-oriented educational programs for mothers and others who take care of children is strongly recommended.