Infant Minimum Meal Frequency

Meal frequency is an important indicator of a person's food security as well as an effective measure for preventing undernutrition. It is usually measured during the collection of dietary diversity data, such as Individual Dietary Diversity Score (IDDS).

Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with the caregivers of a representative sample of children aged 6–23.99 months:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

(ask the following questions immediately after you assess the child's IDDS)

Q1: Can you please remind me her/ his exact age?

A1: ..... months 

Q2: Did you breastfeed her/ him yesterday during the day or at night?

A2: yes / no

Q3: Can you please count how many meals and snacks - including fruit - did s/he eat yesterday?

A3: ..... meals and snacks

NOTE: always verify the number of meals and snacks with what you recorded in the Recording Meals Form used for measuring IDDS.

According to WHO, a "Minimum Meal Frequency" is considered eating 2 times per day for breastfed infants aged 6–8.99 months, 3 times per day for breastfed children aged 9–23.99 months and 4 times per day for non-breastfed children aged 6–23.99 months.

Calculate the indicator's value by dividing the number of children aged 6-23.99 months who met the "minimum meal frequency" by the total number of surveyed children aged 6-23.99 months and multiplying the result by 100. 

Disaggregate the data by gender, age group, and wealth.

1) Meal frequency can be prone to seasonal differences (during the lean season, poor households commonly reduce the number of eaten meals). Do your best to collect baseline and endline data at the same times of a year; otherwise, you will receive two sets of data which are not comparable.

2) This indicator relies on accurate age assessment. Since people often do not remember the exact dates of their children’s birth, the data collectors should always verify the child’s age. This can be done by reviewing the child’s birth certificate, vaccination card or another document; however, since many caregivers do not have such documents (and since they can include mistakes), it is essential that your data collectors are able to verify the child’s age by using local events calendars. Read FAO’s Guidelines (see below) to learn how to prepare local events calendars and how to train data collectors in their correct use.

3) Ensure that enumerators clearly understand and explain to the respondent that even snacks, such as fruit, need to be counted in - including those consumed during the previous night. 

4) Comparing the reported number of eaten meals with what the enumerator previously recorded in the Recording Meals Forms (see IDDS indicator) is an effective way of verifying that none of the eaten meals was forgotten.

5) Avoid collecting data during the fasting periods (such as pre-Easter time or Ramadan) and during the fasting days.