Dietary Practices and Associated Factors Among Lactating Mothers in Sodo Zuriya District, Southern Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Poor dietary practices among lactating mothers can induce metabolic disturbances in infants early in life, particularly those related to nutrition, which result in irreversible physiologic changes. Although maternal nutrition is widely studied, few studies have focused on the dietary practices against the WHO/FAO recommendations for additional meal intake during lactation. This study aims to assess dietary practices and associated factors among lactating mothers based on recommended additional meal intake in the Sodo Zuriya district, South Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study of 627 lactating mothers caring for infants under 6 months of age was conducted. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS v20. Binary logistic regression analyses were employed to identify factors associated with dietary practices. Adjusted odds ratios with 95% CIs at a p value of < 0.05 were used to declare a statistically significant association. RESULTS: In this study, only 50.2% of the lactating mothers had good dietary practices. Counseling about nutrition (AOR = 0.28 (0.15-52)), avoiding any food group (AOR = 0.59 (0.36-0.95)), frequency of antenatal care (AOR = 0.36 (0.15-0.86)), knowledge about foods (AOR = 1.99 (1.05-3.77)) and being taken as additional (AOR = 0.17 (0.03-0.99)), milk/milk product intake per day (AOR = 0.56 (0.36--0.88)), vitamin A-rich fruit or vegetable intake per week (AOR = 2.06 (1.01-4.21)), and staple food availability/production at household (AOR = 0.50 (0.33-0.77)) were significantly associated with dietary practices. CONCLUSIONS: The dietary practices of lactating mothers in this setting were below the national reports and recommendations of the WHO and FAO. Routine health facility counseling, debunking cultural food taboos, and promoting agricultural crop diversification are essential to improving maternal dietary quality.