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Background

Globally, only a third of breastfed infants 6-23 months of age meet the criteria of dietary diversity and feeding frequency that are appropriate for their age [1]. Infant and young child feeding practices in 33 countries located in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean showed high rates of noncompliance with infant and young child feeding (IYCF) recommendations International Baby Food Action Network [2]. In Kenya, despite the adoption of a set of high impact IYCF policies and guidelines, only 39% of all children age 6-23 months are fed in accordance with the recommendations. In Kenya, 61 percent of children less than six months are exclusively breastfed. More than half of children in Kenya are still breastfeeding at age 20-23 months (51 percent). The proportion of breastfed children declines with age; breastfeeding is nearly universal in a child’s first month of life, but the proportion breastfed drops to 61 percent by the time a child is 18-23 months. Under nutrition in the 6-24 month age group in developing countries is a direct consequence of caregiver complementary feeding practices Kikafunda et al.[3] in turn resulting in significant childhood morbidity and mortality since the surviving children have increased susceptibility to and have compromised physical growth, impaired cognitive development and reduced lifetime earnings [4]. Evidence shows that decline in length-for-age mainly occurs during the complementary feeding period, between 6 and 24 months of age [5]. Indeed, poor complementary feeding has been identified as a risk factor associated directly with stunting [6].

About 220 000 child lives could be saved every year …