TABLE 1.

Household characteristics and infant and young child feeding practices

	All	Households with male household head	Households without male household head	Statistical testing of differences
	N = 1827	N = 942	N = 885
	% or mean (SD)	% or mean (SD)	% or mean (SD)	P value
Household characteristics
Only 1 child <5 years of age	73.3%	74.1%	72.5%	0.452
Agro‐ecological zone of residency				0.102
Hills	55.7%	53.3%	58.2%
Mountain	13.0%	13.5%	12.5%
Terai	31.3%	33.2%	29.3%
Disadvantaged/remote community	27.9%	26.2%	29.7%	0.096
Caste/ethnicity: Brahmin/Chhetri	36.8%	33.1%	40.8%	0.001
Household owns a radio	28.4%	33.7%	22.7%	<0.001
Equity quintile				<0.001
Lowest	15.7%	13.2%	18.4%
Second lowest	23.3%	20.2%	26.6%
Middle	22.2%	24.5%	19.7%
2nd highest/highest	38.8%	42.1%	35.4%
Household structure (N = 1821, 939, 882)				<0.001
Mother only	16.0%	—	33.0%
Mother and husband only	21.6%	26.8%	16.0%
Extended family	62.4%	73.2%	51.0%
Child characteristics
Sex: Boy	53.9%	54.1	53.6	0.803
Age (months; range 0–23.9)	11.7 (7.0)	11.0 (7.1)	12.3 (6.8)	<0.001
Age group				0.001
0–5.9 months	23.6%	27.1%	19.9%
6–11.9 months	26.4%	27.0%	25.8%
12–17.9 months	24.3%	23.0%	25.7%
18–23.9 months	25.7%	22.9%	28.7%
Wellness: no sickness in last 2 weeks	59.3%	60.4%	58.1%	0.312
Maternal characteristics
Age (years: range 15–49)	24.6 (4.8)	24.6 (4.8)	24.6 (4.8)	0.994
Years of schooling completed	7.4 (3.8)	7.6 (3.7)	7.1 (3.8)	0.001
Male household head characteristics
Age (years: range 18–92)	35.6 (13.9)	35.6 (13.9)	—	—
Years of schooling completed	6.8 (4.0)	6.8 (4.0)	—	—
Father is male household head	73.7%	73.7%	—	—
Child health and nutrition practices
Minimum dietary diversity (N = 1396, 687, 709)	57.5%	57.5%	57.4%	0.972
Minimum acceptable diet (N = 1396, 687, 709)	47.2%	46.4%	48.0%	0.569
Sick child feeding: more during illness (N = 597, 283, 314)	35.9%	35.0%	36.6%	0.676