Özet:

Complementary feeding (CF) is additional food given to infants typically starts at the age of 6 months to meet the nutrional requirements of infants when breast milk alone is no longer sufficient. Complementary feeding (CF) should be timely as it significantly contributes to the growth and nutritional status of a child. Appropriate complementary feeding (CF) practices depends on the knowledge and age of the mother as both will be gradually improved as mother’s maturity and experience gained. Therefore, it is vital to encourage the practice of appropriate complementary feeding (CF) to ensure proper growth and development of a child. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and complementary feeding (CF) practices among young mothers at public health center of Tamalanrea Jaya, Makassar City in 2019. This was a quantitative descriptive study. For this study, 54 young mothers aged 18- 25 years old were selected using Snowball sampling via Slovin formula out of total population with with confidence level of 95%, the acceptable margin of 5%. This study was conducted from October 22nd - November 22nd, 2019. Data is taken by using questionnaire and then, the data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.0 and presented using descriptive and inferential statistics such as Chi-square with significance level set at 5%. Results showed that out of 54 samples, 47 (87%) of respondents had good knowledge of complementary feeding and 7 (13%) of young mothers has enough knowledge, while only 18 (33.3%) had good complementary feeding practices. There were no association found between maternal knowledge and good complementary feeding practices. There is a need to further explore the factors responsible to improving practices for complementary feeding.

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