Table 1.

Scoring of questionnaire items measuring mother's nutritional knowledge

Item	Score = 0	Score = 1
Time of initiating breastfeeding	≥24 h after birth	soon after birth
Colostrum	not given	given
Complementary food introduced	age < 6 months	age ≥ 6 months
Type of complementary food	kooko †	weanimix ‡ /infant formula
Did mother have food taboos?	yes	no
Knowledge about importance of colostrum	don’t know not good for the child it smells gives child diarrhoea	good for the child contains all nutrients makes child healthy/strong
Features of kwashiorkor	don’t know	child has big stomach big head, thin legs/arms looks sick and unhappy body and face swells
Causes of kwashiorkor	don’t know evil spirits too close births §	lack of right type of food lack of food

^† A thin low energy, low protein gruel made from fermented maize dough;

^‡ A locally formulated cereal‐legume mixture;

^§ The traditional belief here is that when a child is born too close after the previous one, the new born takes the ‘soul’ of the displaced child hence the displaced child is unable to thrive (displaying the symptoms of kwashiorkor).