Background- Child is the chief victim of interplay of nutrition, socio-economic and health
factors that cause malnutrition. Quality of infant feeding is decisive determinant of child
survival. The link between poor infant feeding practices and malnutrition has been well
established. Aims - To find out effect of Mother’s education and employment on complimentary
feeding practices in the study population. Methodology- It was community based crosssectional
study conducted among 1267 children between age group of 0-24 months in the urban
and rural field practice areas of Department of Community Medicine, Maharishi Markandeshwar
Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Mullana, district Ambala, Haryana. A self designed
semi structured questionnaire was used to assess Mother’s knowledge and infant and young child
feeding practices. Results- The current study documented that total 44.6% mothers were aware
about timely introduction of complimentary food at 6 months. Urban mothers had significantly
(p <.001) better knowledge (49.5%) compared to rural mothers (40.5%). Also 52% children
started receiving complimentary feeds at the recommended age of 6 months and more number of
urban mothers (62.7%) adhered to practice of timely complementary feeds compared to rural
mothers (43.6%). Conclusion- Timely introduction of complimentary feeds determine child’s
growth and development. Conclusively, maternal place of work positively influences the
adoption of appropriate infant feeding practice. Working mothers should receive more support in
the workplace for them to practice appropriate feeding practices