Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices in Chepang Community

Chepang is one of the minority ethnic communities of Nepal residing in lower mountains "Churia Range" of central development regions. Usually they are found in harsh and fragile topography which are difficult to reach. Some of them are still found practicing shifting cultivation and heavily depend on wild forest foods. Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices directly affect the nutritional status of children under two years of age and ultimately impact child survival. Feeding practices differs in communities due to difference in culture, knowledge level, health service utilization and socio-economic dimensions.The study has a cross sectional descriptive design in which 360 Chepang mothers of Nepal under two year of age children were randomly selected and interviewed about the child feeding practices. Quantitative method was used to collect data in Aug-Sep 2010. Feeding practices of mothers were found better although they had poor knowledge. Practices like exclusive breastfeeding, initiation of complementary feeding at the age of six months were good however early initiation of breastfeeding and food diversity was poor.