Time to complementary feeding initiation and its predictors among children aged 9-23 months in Meket District, Northeast Ethiopia: a Cox Weibull regression

.Globally and nationally, only 64 center dot 5 and 49 center dot 2 % of infants received solid or semi-solid foods, respectively. The available evidence indicates that the time to initiate complementary feeding practices is still poor and varies by region. The aim of the present study was to assess the time to initiation of complementary feeding and its predictors among children aged 9-23 months in Meket District, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. A community-based retrospective cohort study was conducted from June to July 2022 among 459 systematically selected mothers/caregivers with their children from 9 to 23 months of age. The result of descriptive statistics was reported by table, frequency, Kaplan-Meier curve and percent. The proportional hazard model assumption was checked, and a Weibull regression model was used to see the predictors of timely initiation of complementary feeding. An adjusted hazard ratio with a 95 % confidence interval and a P-value of 0 center dot 05 were used to declare the significant predictors. The median time of complementary feeding initiation was 6 months. Attending primary education (adjusted hazard ration (AHR) 1 center dot 8; 95 % CI 1 center dot 16, 2 center dot 78), occupation of the mother (AHR 1 center dot 43; 95 % CI 1 center dot 04, 1 center dot 95), home delivery (AHR 1 center dot 61; 95 % CI 1 center dot 09, 2 center dot 37) and birth preparedness (AHR 1 center dot 37; 95 % CI 1 center dot 03, 1 center dot 81) were the predictors of time to complementary feeding initiation. The median time to complementary feeding initiation was consistent with the WHO recommendation. Maternal education, maternal employment, place of delivery and birth preparedness were the predictors of time to initiation of complementary feeding. Therefore, working with the education sector, increasing the delivery rate in health facilities, strengthening counselling on birth preparation, increasing maternity leave until 6 months of age and initiating corner feeding should be part of the complementary feeding practices promotion agenda.