Abstract:
Background: Pregnancy is a critical phase in a woman's life; when the expectant mother needs
optimal nutrients to support the developing fetus. The pregnancy process can be adversely
affected by pregnant womans’ feeding practices. However, there is limited information on
feeding practices and associated factors during pregnancy in low-income countries like Ethiopia.
Objecive: The aim of this study was to assess feeding practices and associated factors among
pregnant women attending Ante natal care in health centers of Bonke woreda, South-west
Ethiopia from March 28-June 20/2016.
Methods and Materials: A facility based cross-sectional study design was used. Data were
collected from randomly selected 271 pregnant women in the selected health centers through a
pre-tested structured questionnaire. The collected data were edited, coded and entered onto- Epidata
version 3.02 and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 for
cleaning and further analysis. Frequencies, percentages and numerical summary measures were
used to describe the data. Both bi-variate and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used
to analyze the data. The odds ratios along with 95% confidence intervals were estimated to
measure the strength of the association between the outcome variable and the independent
variables. The level of statistical significance was declared at p-value less than 0.05.
Results: The majority (76.4%) of pregnant women practiced frequency of 3-4 meals per day.
About 10% of them skipped regular meal while 40% of them practiced food aversion. Only
37.6% of the respondents had a high dietary diversity scores. Generally, 27.3% of respondents
practiced optimal feeding. Based on multi variable logistic regression analysis, the optimal
feeding practice of study participants was significantly associated being in second trimester of
pregnancy [(AOR=3.30, 95% CI (1.67-6.56)] and having a history of nutritional education
during pregnancy [(AOR=6.64, 95% CI (1.36-32.45)]
Conclusion and Recommendation: Significantly higher proportion of pregnant women
attending ANC had poor feeding practices in the study area. Gestational period and having
nutrition education were factors identified. So, there is a need to improve maternal and
community awareness regarding the feeding practices that should be followed during pregnancy.
