RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Even with optimum breastfeeding, children are at risk of being stunted if they do not receive timely adequate and appropriate complementary feeding. OBJECTIVES: The objective is to determine the prevailing complementary feeding practices, and nutritional status of children aged 6-23 months. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mothers of 350 children of age 6--23 months of an urban resettlement colony of East Delhi were interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire based on the WHO indicators to record their complementary feeding practices. Weight and height was taken to assess the nutritional status. RESULTS: The minimum meal frequency was adequate in 60.6%, minimum dietary diversity in 15.1%, and minimum acceptable diet in 9% children. The prevalence of wasting was 43.7%, underweight 43.4%, and stunting 29.1%, as per Z-score. Statistically significant association of wasting with low birth weight, bottle feeding, and consumption of market food was observed (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Complementary feeding indicators were unsatisfactory in most children. A high prevalence of wasting and under-nutrition was observed.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of breastfeeding counseling and breastfeeding support by trained counselors during the ante-natal period at health facility and post-natal period at home on breastfeeding practices during the first six months of life. DESIGN: This was a randomized controlled study that compared the effect of counseling on breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life. SETTING: study was done in a government medical college in northern India, which is situated in an urban area. PARTICIPANTS: 300 healthy pregnant women from an urban population attending the antenatal clinic at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University were recruited for the study. INTERVENTION: Subjects were equally assigned randomly to the intervention (2 antenatal and 8 postpartum home counseling visits by the counselors) and control (non-counseling) group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Infant feeding practices including rates of initiation of the breastfeeding within one hour of birth; exclusive breastfeeding and bottle-feeding during the first 6 months of life. RESULTS: Initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth was 73.4% in intervention group as compared to 33.6% in control group (P=0.001). More mothers in the intervention group (88.2%) were able to sustain exclusive breastfeeding rates at 6 months of age in comparison to the control group (50%) (OR 7.44, 95% CI 3.98-13.92). CONCLUSIONS: This study substantiates positive role of skilled counseling by a trained dedicated breastfeeding counselor during the antenatal and post-natal periods on breastfeeding practices during the first six months of life.
