ABSTRACT

 Improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) knowledge among adolescent girls have the potential to improve child health and development outcomes. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge of infant and young child feeding practices among adolescent girls in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State. The study was a cross-sectional study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a total of 250 respondents which are all adolescent girls. Data on socio-demographic/economic characteristics, knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding and knowledge on complementary feeding of the respondents were collected using structured and validated questionnaire. The IBM SPSS version 21.0 computer programme was used to analyze the data. Significant relationship was judged at p 0.05. Data obtained were described using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyse the socio economic influences on adolescent girls' knowledge on infant and young child feeding practices. Result revealed that more than half (5 5.2%) of the adolescent were between the age of 14-16 years. Majority (82.8%) of the girls are still in secondary school whole most (99.2%) of them are single. Majority (76.8%) of the respondents are aware of exclusive breastfeeding while some of them got the information from the hospital (24.4%) and family member (21.2%). However, -more than half (54.4%) of the respondents had an average knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding while 26.4% had a good knowledge about exclusive breastfeeding. Additionally, (52.4%) of the respondents had a poor knowledge on continued breastfeeding and complementary feeding. Meanwhile, there exist a significant association (p=O.00l) between the educational status of the adolescents and their knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding. There was also a significant positive relationship (p=0.023) between the respondents marital status and their knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding. Female adolescence is a window of opportunity for improving health outcomes among future children, and increased investment in early education of adolescent girls regarding safe IYCF may be an effective strategy to promote and support improved infant feeding practices.