Assessment of nutritional status and feeding pattern of under- five children in Edo Central Senatorial District

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition is a significant public health problem and it is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children below 5 years of age.

Objective: To examine the relationship between nutritional status and feeding pattern of under-five children in Esan-land, Edo State Nigeria.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Single-stage random sampling technique was used to recruit 300 mother-child dyads from the Edo Central Senatorial LGAs. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-demographic characteristics of mothers and feeding pattern plus nutritional status of child pair. Anthropometric included mid upper arm circumference to assess malnutrition (MUAC <125mm). IBM SPSS 22 Version was used to analyze the data.

Results: Among the 300 mothers, mean age of mothers was 29.5 years. 23% are unaware of the relationship between nutritional status and feeding pattern, but 57% have knowledge of significant nutrients. Out of the 300 children, 54% are females, daily feeding pattern was 0.7% fed once, 7.7% fed twice, 30% fed thrice and 61.7% >3 /day. Further, 65% were well nourished (MUAC <135mm), and 64.8% of the 105 malnourished children were stunted, while 35.2% represented acute malnutrition. There was a significant statistical association between the mother's awareness of nutritional status versus practiced feeding pattern (P = 0.001).

Conclusion: There is need to promote infant and young child feeding. Although exclusive breastfeeding may match with level of knowledge among mothers, those who indicate lack of knowledge are still high and over one-third of under-5 children were found malnourished.