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A child's diet should be composed of appropriate nutrients to achieve optimal nutritional status, and though there is a substantial evidence base for child feeding recommendations, developing countries continue to face challenges regarding optimal child feeding. This paper describes an ethnographic study undertaken in rural northern Ghana to explore community perceptions of what 'counts' as food for children and the impact this had on the nutrients they received. Fifteen households with children under 5 years were purposively selected. In‐depth interviews were held with 25 mothers, 7 fathers and 8 grandparents within these households as well as 2 diviners. Participant observations were also undertaken. Findings show that satiety rather than nutrition was the key consideration in adult choices about a child's diet. The community regarded carbohydrate‐based meals as food, but considered protein, vitamins and mineral‐based foods as nonessential elements of a child's diet, and important sources of these nutrients were regarded as treats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite globally recommended infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, inadequate Child feeding remains a global challenge and the root cause of undernutrition. Most mothers who primarily feed children in most developing settings appear to have received information on the IYCF practices. We explored mothers' limitations to provide children optimally in a rural Ghanaian community. We interviewed 42 family members, including parents and grandparents of thirty-two children under five years, from fifteen households using an ethnographic fieldwork approach. We observed and participated in food preparation and child feeding and interviewed religious leader, diviners. Households' decision-making arrangements, mothers, emerging roles and inconsistency of fathers' roles, competing sources of knowledge poverty, food insecurity and the nature of the community's social interactions and policing of women's child feeding practices are issues mothers have to navigate to feed children in the study community. Cultural custodians should be given child nutrition and providing information. Mothers should be empowered to manage child feeding and emerging roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]