ASSESSMENT OF NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND COMPLEMENTARY FEEDING PRACTICES AMONG NURSING MOTHERS IN EDE NORTH LGA, OSUN

Description

ABSTRACT

Nutrition is an important part of a child’s growth and development, especially the first two years of life considered to be the window of opportunity where we can improve the wellbeing of a child. This study, therefore, investigated mother’s nutritional knowledge and complementary feeding practices in a selected health centre in Ede North LGA, Osun State, Nigeria. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 400 participants for the study. A 43-item validated semi-structured questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.71; 0.72; 0.70 was used to collect data. Frequency, pie chart, Chi-square, and correlation analysis was conducted to give statistical responses to the research question and hypotheses using SPSS version 23. The mean age of the respondents was 30 ± 6.4 years. More than half (56.6%) of the respondents were married, 70% were Yoruba’s, and 61.3% were Christians. Respondents mean knowledge score was 5.9±1.96, while most (78.8%) of the respondents had good nutritional knowledge. Respondents mean child feeding practices score was 6.05±1.98, with more than half (59.2%) of the respondents having good child feeding practices. There was a significant relationship between respondent’s knowledge of nutrition and their child complementary feeding practices (r=-0.13, p value= 0.007). In conclusion the mothers’ nutritional knowledge was good, the study further showed that there is a significant association between mothers’ nutritional knowledge and the complementary feeding practices of the children. The study recommended that women should be educated by trained nutritionists on the types of locally available foods that promote growth in children during ante-natal clinics.

 

CHAPTER ONE

      1.0                                                      INTRODUCTION

     1.1                                         BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

A child needs the right kind of nutrition in order to thrive and attain optimal development as a millennium development goal No. 4, and indicators are to reduce child mortality rate, it should be supported by the standard practices of Nutrition which is important in child survival, growth and development as well as MDG No. 1 to eradicate extreme poverty focusing on Child Nutrition (Berihu et al., 2010). To meet these goals as we should consider the mother’s knowledge and practice on infant and child feeding as recommended by World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 2010). As a national public health recommendation, infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development, and health. Complimentary feeding should be initiated to supplement the nutritional requirement of the Child (Motee et al., 2014).

Mother’s knowledge on exclusively breastfeeding is not sufficient for mothers to demonstrate practically. Complimentary foods should provide approximately 25.50% of the total dairy requirement and 75 – 100% for phosphorous, zinc, and Iron (Cape et al., 2014). The mothers hence the direct caregivers of the child are responsible for fulfilling these requirements to accomplish this. She should have the right kind of knowledge and should practice this accordingly. Poor infant feeding practices coupled with high rates of infectious diseases are the major causes of malnutrition during the first two years of life (Alom et al., 2012).

Approximately, breast feeding, complementary feeding practices and access to adequate amounts of appropriate foods are essential for optimal infant Nutrition (Alderman et al., 2017). However, Breastfeeding provides infants with superior nutritional content that is capable of improving infant immunity and possible reduction in future health care spending (Alderman et al., 2017). It has been reported that 17% of Nigeria Children were exclusively breastfed for less than 4 months, while 13% were exclusively breastfed for less than 6 months (Agunbiade et al., 2017).

Nutrition education given to mothers should emphasize the importance of breast milk only for the first 6 months of life and promoting appropriate, timely complementary food at six months and above with increased feeding frequency and change in food consistency, quality, and diversity as the child ages (World Health Organization, 2015). However, inadequate knowledge of appropriate food and feeding practices is often a great determinant of malnutrition (Amare et al., 2018). It has also been observed that mothers who are nutritionally informed and educated bring up their children in a healthier way than those who lack appropriate nutritional knowledge (Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, 2008). Hence the need to evaluate the nutrition information communicated to mothers of under-five children attending immunization clinic at Ede primary health Centre in Osun State. This has become important since poor nutritional knowledge and malnutrition can result from sub- optimal breastfeeding practices, poor quality complementary feeding, and detrimental feeding practices, which greatly affect the growing child and mother’s health.

The study’s main objective is to evaluate the nutrition information communicated to mothers of under-five children attending immunization clinics of selected primary health facility in Ede, Osun State. The specific objectives are to assess the level of nutritional knowledge of mothers of under-five children attending immunization clinic of selected primary health facility in Ede North LGA Ede, Osun State. It also describes the child complementary feeding practices of mothers of under-five children attending immunization clinics of selected primary health facility in Ede North LGA Ede, Osun State. The study is conducted to assess the nutritional status of under-five children attending immunization clinic of selected primary health facility in Ede North LGA Ede, Osun State and to determine the relationship between mothers’ nutritional knowledge and the complementary feeding practices of their children under-five that attend immunization clinic of selected primary health facility in Ede North LGA, Osun State.

1.2      STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Malnutrition in childhood remains a significant public health concern, especially in developing countries (such as in Nigeria) , where poor child feeding practices is the major cause of high prevalence of common childhood diseases such as diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia (Demilew et al., 2017). Consequently, approximately 45% of mortalities among children aged <5 years are related to undernutrition, with approximately 33% of these deaths resulting from inadequate feeding practices (WHO, 2019). These nutrition-related morbidities and mortalities mostly occur in low- and middle-income countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, about one-third of these malnutrition cases are attributable to inappropriate nutrition and ineffective feeding practices, which occur during the first year of life especially from the sixth month of life when only breastmilk cannot sufficiently meet the dietary needs of the infants and for which an appropriate and effective complementary feeding is expected to be introduced (National Population Commission, 2018).

The Nigeria National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHS, 2018) revealed that acute malnutrition among children aged <5 years in Nigeria was between 5% and 9.9%. In comparison, the prevalence of underweight was about 19.9% which is close to 22% obtained in the West and Central Africa regions. The NNHS further revealed that the prevalence of stunting was 32% and has been considered as the largest burden of malnutrition in Nigeria since 2014, with some states in the North–West and North–East Nigeria recording a significantly high prevalence of ≥40%. The above have been observed to be direct and indirect consequences of inappropriate complementary feeding practices. These problems raise the need to access nutritional knowledge and complementary feeding practices among nursing mothers.

1.3                                        AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study is aimed at accessing the nutritional knowledge and complementary feeding practices among nursing mothers in Ede North LGA, Osun State. The objectives of the study are:

1. To access the level of knowledge about complementary feeding among nursing mothers in Ede North LGA, Osun State
2. To examined complementary feeding practices among nursing mothers in Ede North LGA, Osun State

• To identify factors associated with complementary feeding practices among nursing mothers in Ede North LGA, Osun State.

1.4                                               SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will serve as a means of promoting good health thereby reducing the level of mortalities among children.

This study will serve as an enabling factor that can encourage mothers and primary care givers to adopt effective child feeding practices for optimal wellbeing of infants and young children.

1.5                                                       SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study cover assessing the nutritional knowledge and complementary feeding practices among nursing mothers in Ede North LGA, Osun State. This study includes a study on complementary feeding practices among mothers of children under five years in Osun State, Nigeria, reported a significant relationship between timing for introduction of complementary foods and nutritional status of infants.