Balancing nurturance, cost and time: complementary feeding in Accra, Ghana

This paper presents a picture of the general patterns of complementary feeding behaviours in urban Ghana. A focused ethnographic study protocol for assessing complementary feeding developed for the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition was used to collect data from caregivers of children 6-24 months of age. We examined the multiple factors that influence the selection of foods for infants and young children in this urban setting, and found that economic factors, health beliefs and other nurturing-related values, access to food and issues of convenience all play important roles. We conclude that the interactions of nurturance, cost and time are vectors that affect feeding decisions.