This group will consist of six kebeles with a total of 90 pairs of mothers and their children that will receive the nutrition education intervention to enhance complementary feeding practices first. The six lessons will be delivered in a period of 6 weeks. Before the intervention this groups will be assessed with the baseline assessment. After the intervention, this group will be assessed in three time points (post-intervention, follow-up 1 and follow-up 2).

This arm will consist of the six kebeles with a total of 90 pairs of mothers and their children that will not receive the intervention immediately. This group will first complete the baseline and the second assessment. After the second assessment, this group will receive the nutrition education intervention to enhance complementary feeding practices. After the intervention, this group will be assessed in two additional time points (post-intervention and follow-up 1).

The intervention consist of a six-week nutrition education intervention developed following the DESIGN procedure and the Socio-Cognitive Theory. The intervention consisted of six three-hour weekly sessions that covered topics such as 1) importance and benefits of exclusive and continuing breastfeeding; 2) nutrition for lactating mothers; 3) importance and benefits of complementary feeding practices; 4) risks for starting complementary feeding too early or too late; 5) complementary feeding practices for each age group (6-8, 9-11, and 12-24); 6) importance and benefits of dietary diversity; 7) importance of animal-source foods; 8) importance and benefits of following water, sanitation, and hygiene practices; 9) food safety practices when preparing meals; and 10) the recommended hand-washing protocol. Each lesson was designed to provide a lecture, a discussion using counseling cards, a cooking demonstration with tasting session, and key messages.

The dietary diversity score will be measured using the population indicator of minimum dietary diversity score for children aged 6 to 23 months designed by The Who. This measurement assess the consumption of seven food groups through seven yes-no questions. The food groups that are assessed are the following: 1) grains, roots and tubers; 2) legumes and nuts; 3) dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese); 4) flesh foods (meat, fish, poultry, and organ meats); 5) eggs; 6) vitamin A rich fruit and vegetables; and 7) other fruits and vegetables. The total dietary diversity score for each participant will be the sum of the food groups that were responded with a yes answer. The maximum score possible is seven.

The meal frequency of children will be measured using a question that forms part of the Infant Young and Child Feeding Practices questionnaire provided by the WHO. This question assess the number of times that a baby had meals or snacks, other than liquids, through a multiple answer questions. The participating mother has the option to select the meal frequency from one to six times. The average meal frequency will be calculated for those breastfed and non-breastfed children.

This is an indicator that measures the proportion of children aged 6 to 23 months of age who receive the minimum feeding frequency and minimum dietary diversity. The acceptable diet score will be calculated using the proportion of children that meet the minimum dietary diversity and the minimum meal frequency divided by the total number of children. This score will be calculated for breastfed and non-breastfed children.

The child feeding knowledge score will be assessed using the questions obtained from the FAO Guidelines for assessing nutritional-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices. The section of knowledge includes 7 open-ended questions in which the data collector will ask an open-ended question to the mother and the mother will have to provide a short answer in her own words. The knowledge score per participant will be calculated based on the number of correct answers provided and an average score of participants will be calculated.