Infant and child feeding practices in Burkina Faso

To date a comprehensive study on this subject has not been conducted and would be a valuable contribution to the literature on child nutrition in West Africa. Consequently, the information presented here has been culled from a variety of documents each with a slightly different research focus and regional area of study. The report is organized into four main sections. Part I presents relevant background information on the social and cultural context of infant and young child feeding in Burkina Faso including ethnicity, religion, descent systems, marriage patterns, fertility, and food taboos during pregnancy. Household food preparation and food consumption are discussed in Part II, describing individuals responsible for meal preparation, methods of preparing the dietary staple and condiments, family meal consumption, and the dietary pattern. Part III focuses on infant and child feeding and includes information on: (1) breastfeeding (duration, influencing factors, and use of colostrum); (2) introduction of complementary foods (age at introduction, types of foods given, frequency of feeding, child food taboos, and factors affecting weaning food use); and (3) weaning practices. Part IV summarizes the key findings and recommends areas for follow-up on ethnographic research. (Author abstract, modified)