Reflections of Adolescent Motherhood on Infant and Young ChildFeeding Practices : The Case of Uganda

The Case of Uganda. Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Child Health and Diseases, Thesis, Ankara, 2023. It is known that breastfeeding and breast milk reduce under-5 mortality rates, malnutrition rates and infection-related mortality rates worldwide. Proper and adequate complementary feeding following breastfeeding is also vital in the prevention of childhood obesity, malnutrition and chronic diseases. Since the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy is high in Uganda, a sub-Saharan African country, and inadequate and inaccurate complementary feeding practices increase the risk of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and adversely affect the development of children, we aimed to evaluate the competence of adolescent mothers living in Uganda in infant and young child nutrition using the 2016 Uganda Demographic Health Survey data. Our sample consisted of the last children aged 6-23 months of mothers aged 15-29 years. Exclusion criteria were not living with their mothers, multiple pregnancy, and being born before <32 gestational age. A total of 2594 mother-infant pairs were included in the study. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the effects of adolescent motherhood on breastfeeding continuation, bottle use, minimum diet frequency, minimum diet variety, egg and meat consumption, zero vegetable- fruit consumption, and unhealthy food consumption. We found that the rate of breastfeeding continuation was 71% and the rate of consuming zero vegetables was 22% higher in adolescent mothers; the rates of bottle use, minimum diet frequency and unhealthy food consumption were similar to those of mothers who had their first birth >20 years of age in the 20-29 age group; the rate of minimum dietary diversity was 40% and the rate of egg and meat consumption was 22% lower. The dissemination of baby-friendly hospitals in Uganda and informing mothers about infant and young child nutrition will contribute to the improvement of these rates. Key words: Adolescent, breastfeeding, nutrition