Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices and Nutritional Status: Evidence from Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
Optimal infant and young child feeding is central to child survival, growth and development, yet inappropriate breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices remain important contributors to childhood malnutrition. This study assessed feeding practices and nutritional status among children attending the Family Health Clinic and Paediatric Outpatient Department of Jos University Teaching Hospital, Plateau State, Nigeria. A hospital-based cross-sectional design was used. The project reports a final sample of 382 mothers/caregivers and their children, selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and anthropometric measurements and analysed with SPSS version 22. The results available for manuscript development were descriptive and are therefore presented as frequencies and percentages. Almost all respondents (97.6%) reported breastfeeding their children, 70.2% reported practising exclusive breastfeeding, 89.0% breastfed on demand, and 84.0% had received guidance on exclusive breastfeeding from health personnel. However, 61.0% also reported using breast-milk substitutes or infant formula. Complementary foods were introduced at exactly six months by 36.9% of respondents, while 17.3% introduced them before six months and 20.2% after six months; 25.7% had not yet commenced complementary feeding. Pap was the most common first complementary food (66.5%), and cups and spoons were the commonest feeding mode (63.6%). Dietary patterns were dominated by cereals, with relatively low routine intake of fruits, vegetables and animal-source foods. Anthropometric assessment showed that 75.7% were classified as normal by weight-for-height, 67.5% by weight-for-age, 55.5% by height-for-age and 69.9% by MUAC; 15.5% had moderate acute malnutrition and 14.7% severe acute malnutrition by MUAC. The findings indicate high breastfeeding uptake but important gaps in complementary feeding quality and a substantial burden of undernutrition. Strengthened nutrition counselling, timely complementary feeding and greater dietary diversity are recommended.
Keywords: Infant and young child feeding; breastfeeding; exclusive breastfeeding; complementary feeding; malnutrition; MUAC; Jos; Nigeria.
KEYWORDS: Exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, malnutrition, Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM), Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), nutritional assessment.
