Complementary feeding

Complementary feeding after six months supplements breastfeeding with additional calories and nutrients. In Peru, mothers were educated on complementary feeding (importance, techniques, etc.) through CRED.

Literature Review

Complementary feeding after six months is included as a proven nutrition-specific intervention within the Lancet nutrition series. It has been positively associated with linear growth in other studies, as well (particularly when the complementary feeding involved animal foods).¹

Quantitative Analysis

Given the lack of an ecological proxy variable for complementary feeding, we were unable to evaluate it using linear mixed effects regression.

Based on the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, none of these proxies used for complementary feeding appear to be a significant predictor of HAZ-score.

However, analysis of Victora curves shows a significant flattening of the part of the curve corresponding to 6-23-month old children from 2000 to 2016. This suggests that improved complementary feeding practices may have driven significant stunting reduction.

Qualitative Analysis

Interviewees noted that as a part of PAN, Peru prioritized complementary feeding as a component of maternal counseling.

Conclusion

Complementary feeding has proven to contribute to stunting reduction, but it is unclear if it played an important role in doing so in Peru.

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