Peer-reviewed article
Maternal feeding knowledge and practices as determinants of nutritional status in under-five children.
Venkatesh JS, Kulkarni M, Senthil Kumar K ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how mothers' knowledge and feeding practices affect the nutritional status of children aged 6 months to 5 years in low- and middle-income countries. Researchers assessed maternal knowledge, attitudes and practices using a questionnaire and measured children's growth using weight, height and arm circumference. The findings showed that better maternal feeding practices were associated with better child growth outcomes, suggesting that mothers' behaviors significantly influence whether children are well-nourished.
Key points
- 53.3% of mothers had moderate feeding knowledge and 56.7% had moderate feeding practices
- 23.3% of children were underweight, 20% were stunted and 13.3% were wasted
- Maternal feeding practices showed positive correlations with child weight-for-age (r=0.52), height-for-age (r=0.47) and mid-upper arm circumference (r=0.50)
- Behavioral factors through maternal practices strongly influence child growth outcomes
Limitations
The document does not specify which country or countries the study was conducted in, nor does it provide details on the sample size, study setting, or how causality was established. It is unclear whether the correlations observed represent causal relationships or are influenced by other factors.
Abstract
Under-five malnutrition remains a persistent public health burden in low- and middle-income countries, contributing substantially to morbidity and impaired growth. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate maternal knowledge, attitude and feeding practices (KAP) and examined their association with anthropometric indicators among children aged 6 months to 5 years. Maternal KAP was assessed using a structured questionnaire and child nutritional status was determined using weight-for-age, height-for-age and mid-upper arm circumference based on WHO standards. Moderate knowledge (53.3%) and practices (56.7%) were observed, while 23.3% were underweight, 20% stunted and 13.3% wasted. Thus, maternal feeding practices demonstrated significant positive correlations with weight-for-age (r=0.52), height-for-age (r=0.47) and MUAC (r=0.50), indicating behavioral determinants strongly influence child growth outcomes.