Introduction: One of the health priorities for controlling child mortality and morbidity and promoting child growth and development is growth monitoring and promotion. However, evidence on growth monitoring and promotion service utilization is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of GMP utilization and associated factors among mother-child pairs in the Central Gondar Zone of Northwest Ethiopia in 2022.

Methods: A community-based mixed study was employed from March 10 to April 5, 2022, in the central Gondar zone. The simple random sampling method was used to select 576 mother-child pairs. The data was collected using a structured and pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data was entered into EPI INFO version 7 and exported to SPSS version 24.0 for further analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to check variables' associations with dependent variables; a P-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. The qualitative data was coded, grouped by themes, and analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results: In the study area, the prevalence of GMP utilization among children aged 0 to 23 months was 26.6% (95% CI: 22.9–30.2). Birth at home (AOR = 1.56; 95% CI: 1.02, 2.68), postnatal care visits (AOR = 3.13; 95% CI: 1.99–4.90), regular GMP sessions (AOR = 6.53; 95% CI: 2.43, 9.34), and wealthy families (AOR = 5.98; 95% CI: 3.09, 10.58) were significantly associated with GMP service utilization.

Conclusion: Conclusion: The study area had a low prevalence of GMP utilization services. GMP utilization was significantly related to birthplace, PNC follow-up, participation in regular GMP sessions, and wealth index. As a result, emphasis will be placed on improving skilled birth delivery, PNC follow-up, increasing GMP outreach sites, and informing parents of the child's weight to improve GMP service utilization. Furthermore, encourage participation in regular GMP sessions to increase GMP utilization.

Keywords: infants and young child, growth monitoring utilization, Ethiopia