Household Dynamics of Maternal Caregiving and Agricultural Labour in Complementary Feeding in Ge

• The study sought to understand how household roles, caregiving responsibilities, and agricultural labor influence complementary feeding in rural Geita Region, Tanzania.
• A phenomenological approach was used to capture mothers’ lived experiences and perceptions of feeding practices.

• Conducted in rural farming communities within Geita.
• Participants were mothers with children aged 6 to 23 months.
• Sampling involved seven in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions.

• Maternal duties intertwined with farming obligations, shaping feeding routines.
• Practices of carrying children and porridge to the fields, reflecting the integration of childcare with agricultural work.
• Limited involvement of fathers in caregiving tasks.
• Fatigue arising from extended periods of farm labor affecting daily caregiving activities.
• Dependence on elder siblings for childcare in the farming context.
• Perceived judgment or sanctions related to late arrival at the farm, influencing behavior and planning.

• Farming activity itself emerged as a central, overarching factor that intersects with all sub-themes and modulates feeding-related decisions.

• Mothers linked complementary feeding closely to how labor is organized within the household and to the time demands of subsistence farming.
• Findings point to the necessity for strategies that are sensitive to intra-household roles and the time constraints inherent in rural agricultural livelihoods.

Limitations related to generalizability were not explicitly detailed in the report.

• The study provides qualitative insights from a specific regional context and relies on maternal self-reporting.