Barriers to mother-child interactions during complementary feeding.
At 6, 9 and 12 months, some mothers mentioned that the lack of time because of other responsibilities was a barrier to encouraging their children to eat more. For instance, 2 mothers said:
“I admit that this is a rare occasion where I talk to my child during feeding even though I know how important chatting is for the child but due farm and household duties I do not do it neither”.(W-25, month 6)
“The child eats under pressure because I press him to finish the food quickly to let me go for my businesses, usually farming. Honestly we do not have time to chat with the child during feeding. During working hours, I always pressurize the child to finish the food so that I get back to farm for weeding, searching for fodder but even at noon sometimes it becomes not possible because you are under pressure to be back to farm.” (W-29, month 12)
Other mothers emphasized that poverty played a role in their inability to interact properly with children during feeding. Mothers said that their efforts were more focused to finding financial means to survive due to poverty.
“It is just to find the means to survive due to poverty we only mind our own businesses. And if a mother spends her time conversing with her child, she can’t achieve anything. She can’t get anything to eat, as the family can’t eat it. It is impossible.” (W-18, month 12)
Few of the mothers expressed (3 out of 29 at 12 months) their concern related to mess and food waste that may be associated with letting the child self-feed, as two mothers explained:
She is too young to feed herself. If I let her instead she drops food on herself and her clothes and can be burnt” . (W-14, month 12)
“The reason for not allowing the child to self-feed is that the child does not value food, he throws them away rather than eating”.(W-7, month 12)