Feeding the Future: Household Food Security and Infant Feeding Practices among Stunted Children in Urban Indonesia

Introduction: Stunting remains a major nutritional challenge in Indonesia, often worsened by inadequate infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and food insecurity. This condition affects early-life nutritional outcomes, underscoring the need to identify strategies to prevent child stunting. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between household food security (HFS) and IYCF practices among stunted children in Indonesian urban areas. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 139 mothers of stunted children aged 6–23 months, all registered at the Community-Based Integrated Health Care Centre in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. Cluster sampling was applied. The independent variable was HFS, assessed using the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module (US-FSSM). The dependent variables, IYCF practices, were measured using three WHO indicators: minimum dietary diversity (MDD), minimum meal frequency (MMF), and minimum acceptable diet (MAD). Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were performed at a significance level of p<0.05. Results: MDD was reported by 80.6% of respondents, MMF by 50.4%, and MAD by 41.7%. Bivariate analysis revealed that HFS significantly correlates with MDD (p=0.047; C=0.232) and MMF (p=0.022; C=0.254). In the multivariate model, after adjusting for covariates, HFS was significantly associated only with MMF (AOR=1.43, 95% CI: 1.02–1.99, p=0.039), indicating that food-secure households were 1.4 times more likely to achieve adequate meal frequency compared to food-insecure households. Conclusions: HFS influences feeding practices, particularly meal frequency, among stunted children. Policies and interventions that integrate food security strategies with IYCF promotion at the community level are crucial to improve child nutrition in urban low-resource settings.