How well do mothers recall their own and their infants' perinatal events? A two-district study using cross-sectional stratified random sampling in Bihar, India.

Differences in FLW visits and compliance with their advice may be due to seasonal effects: mothers of older infants aged 3-5 months were pregnant during the dry season; mothers of infants aged 0-2 months were pregnant during the monsoons, making transportation difficult. Useful coverage estimates can be obtained by sampling mothers with infants aged 0-5 months as with two samples suggesting that mothers of young infants recall their own perinatal events and those of their children. For some indicators (eg, exclusive breast feeding), it may be necessary to adjust targets. Excessive stratification wastes resources, does not improve the quality of information and increases the burden placed on data collectors and communities which can increase non-sampling error.