Table 1 Characteristics of participants who completed the study stratified by group allocation

At the time of the intervention

 Maternal age (years) – mean ± SD

17.4 ± 1.5

17.5 ± 1.4

0.675

 Maternal educational attainment ≥ 8 years – n (%)

55 (56.1)

55 (50.5)

0.499

 Infant birth weight (g) – mean ± SD

3252 ± 421

3252 ± 428

0.995

 Per capita income (MW^a) – median (interquartile range)

0.5 (0.3–0.6)

0.4 (0.2–0.6)

0.685

 Infant sex, male – n (%)

45 (45.9)

56 (51.4)

0.519

 Maternal skin color, white – n (%)

62 (63.3)

67 (61.5)

0.902

 Mode of delivery, vaginal – n (%)

73 (74.5)

81 (74.3)

1.000

 Primiparity – n (%)

88 (89.8)

89 (81.7)

0.143

 Cohabiting with partner – n (%)

57 (58.2)

68 (62.4)

0.633

 Cohabiting with maternal grandmother – n (%)

64 (65.3)

53 (48.6)

0.023

At the latest assessment

 Maternal age (years) – mean ± SD

23.9 ± 4.0

24.4 ± 1.7

0.305

 Child age (years) – mean ± SD

5.82 ± 0.52

6.30 ± 0.36

<0.001

 Per capita income (MW) – median (interquartile range)

0.6 (0.4–0.9)

0.6 (0.4–0.8)

0.814

 Other children born – n (%)

36 (36.7)

42 (38.9)

0.861

 Maternal educational attainment, ≥ 8 years – n (%)

76 (80.9)

72 (67.3)

0.044

 Maternal employment outside the home – n (%)

49 (52.1)

63 (58.3)

0.457

 Cohabitation with maternal grandmother – n (%)

30 (31.3)

25 (23.4)

0.270

 Cohabitation with paternal grandmother – n (%)

3 (3.2)

10 (9.3)

0.138

 Cohabitation with partner – n (%)

57 (60.6)

76 (71.0)

0.160