Mothers’ Nutritional Knowledge, Infant Feeding Practices and Nutritional Status of Children (0-24 Months) in Lagos State, Nigeria

Aim: This study examined the nutritional knowledge, infant feeding practices of mothers and the nutritional status of children in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Study Design: A cross sectional survey design was used.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in three selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Lagos state. The LGAs were Ikeja, Shomolu and Ikorodu representing urban, sub-urban and rural areas respectively.
Methodology: A validated questionnaire and group interview was used as the instrument for data collection. Data was collected from 300 randomly selected mothers of children aged 0 months to 24 months, who visited three Government- owned childcare centres in Lagos State, Nigeria. Anthropometric indices were used to determine the children’s nutritional status. The data obtained from mothers were analyzed using simple percentage and frequency counts. Epi Info 6 was used to analyze the anthropometric data.
Results: The findings indicated that the mothers’ nutritional knowledge as revealed by the test score was fairly good. Majority (75%) of the respondents breastfed their children but only 14.7% of the mothers practiced exclusive breast feeding for six months, while 43.3% of the mothers in addition to breast feeding, included complementary foods for their children at 4-6 months of age. About 16% of the mothers introduced complementary feeding and solid foods to their infants before 6 months of age. Occupation type was the most (45%) influential factor affecting breast feeding and appropriate complementary feeding practices. Also, 16.3% of the children were stunted while the prevalence of under-weight and wasting were 13% and 10% respectively. The chi-square test showed a statistically significant association (p<0.05) between mothers’ nutritional knowledge and the children’s nutritional status.
Conclusion: These findings are of public health concern. It is therefore recommended that the duration of maternity leave should be increased. Women of child bearing age should be educated by trained nutritionists on the types of locally available foods that promote growth in children.