Knowledge and Attitudes of Health Professionals Working in Pediatrics Clinics towards Complementary Food

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the knowledge and attitudes of health professionals working in pediatric clinics towards complementary food. Methods: The research was carried out with the participation of 51 nurses and 6 doctors who is working in the pediatric clinics of a university hospital between April and May 2021. The research was planned in descriptive cross-sectional type. It was collected by face-to-face interview method by using the Complementary Food Information Form to determine the knowledge and attitudes of the health professionals, which include the socio-demographic characteristics of the health professionals Results: It was found that, 89.5% of the participants were nurses, 10.5% were doctors, and the mean age of starting complementary food was 5.77±1.84 months to babies. 80.7% of the participants stated the age of starting complementary food for babies as 5-6 months, 14% as ≤ 4 months, 3.5% as >10 months, and 1.8% as 8-9 months.. To the question of which food to start with first, 87.7% of the participants answered yoghurt, 38.6% of soup and puree foods, 36.8% of them water. The mean age of making yogurt was 6.35±2.76 months, cow's milk 12.75±3.57 months, egg yolk 8.63±3.22 months, meat products 10.24±4.46 months, soups 6.82±1.99 months, honey 13.78±4.67 months. Conclusions: The study showed that the nurses and physicians working in the pediatric clinic had sufficient information about the starting time for complementary foods and their food preferences. Due to the importance of training and consultancy services to be received from health professionals in introducing additional food to infants, it is important to expand in-service training on this subject.