Table 3.

Associations between maternal beliefs, knowledge and practices and child nutritional status

Variables	Malnourished	Well nourished	χ2‐value
Time of introducing breast milk after delivery
Soon after birth	38	47
More than 1 day later	17	8	4.55*
Was colostrum given?
Yes	41	54
No	14	1	13.05***
Knowledge about importance of colostrum
Correct	31	48
In correct	24	7	13.1***
Age at which complementary food was introduced
<6 months	19	3
≥6 months	36	52	14.55***
Type of complementary food
Koko	32	25
Weanimix/Infant formula	23	30	1.85
Mother's belief of cause of kwashiorkor
Correct	39	49
Wrong	16	6	5.82*
Mother had food taboos
Yes	21	14
No	34	41	2.05

^*** P < 0.001;

^** P < 0.01;

^* P < 0.05.