Peer-reviewed article
THE EFFECT OF NURTURING CARE ON THE INCIDENCE OF STUNTING AMONG TODDLERS IN THE SERVICE AREA OF THE MAIWA COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER ENREKANG REGENCY
Vivi Nur Afiah Muchlis, Pratiwi Ramlan, Zulkarnaim Sulaiman, Devy Febrianti ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined the relationship between maternal caregiving practices and stunting in toddlers in Enrekang Regency, Indonesia, where stunting affects over one-third of children. Researchers surveyed 93 mothers and found that exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices were significantly associated with stunting, while household sanitation was not. The three care practices together explained about 69% of stunting variation. The findings suggest that maternal education on breastfeeding and feeding practices should be prioritized to reduce stunting in the area.
Key points
- Exclusive breastfeeding was significantly related to stunting status (p=0.002; OR=11.058)
- Inappropriate complementary feeding was the strongest predictor of stunting (p=0.000; OR=37.414)
- Household sanitation showed no significant association with stunting (p=0.675)
- The three caregiving variables accounted for 68.7% of variance in stunting occurrence
- Stunting prevalence in Enrekang Regency was 34.3%, the second-highest in South Sulawesi Province
Limitations
The cross-sectional design cannot establish causality or the direction of effects between caregiving practices and stunting outcomes. The study was limited to one community health center's service area, which may not represent the broader regency or province.
Abstract
Stunting refers to a condition of chronic undernutrition in which a child's height-for-age (HAZ) falls more than two standard deviations below the WHO reference median. In 2024, Enrekang Regency reported a stunting prevalence of 34.3%, the second-highest figure in South Sulawesi Province. This research set out to examine how three dimensions of maternal caregiving—exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and household sanitation—relate to stunting among toddlers within the coverage area of Puskesmas Maiwa, Enrekang Regency. A cross-sectional quantitative design was applied, drawing 93 respondents through simple random sampling, with binary logistic regression used for data analysis. Findings indicated that exclusive breastfeeding was significantly related to stunting status (p=0.002; OR=11.058), while inappropriate complementary feeding emerged as the strongest predictor (p=0.000; OR=37.414); sanitation, by contrast, showed no significant association (p=0.675). Together, the three variables accounted for 68.7% of the variance in stunting occurrence (Nagelkerke R² = 0.687). Based on these results, efforts to prevent stunting in the area should give priority to maternal education on proper breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Maternal caregiving practices: exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and household sanitation
- Population
- 93 mothers of toddlers in the service area of Puskesmas Maiwa, Enrekang Regency, Indonesia
Key finding
Exclusive breastfeeding significantly related to stunting (OR=11.058, p=0.002)