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  • Title: A study on the impact of maternal knowledge and practice on the nutritional status of infants.
    Author: Bhat IA, Shah GN, Dhar GM, Mehnaz S.
    Journal: Indian J Matern Child Health; 1992; 3(1):12-5. PubMed ID: 12318654.
    Abstract:
    In India, health workers interviewed 123 mothers of infants attending the child health clinic of the S.K. Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar to determine whether maternal knowledge and practice were associated with the nutritional status of the infants. 28 children were considered to be well nourished, while the remaining 95 children were determined to be in various degrees of malnutrition. Mothers whose infants were well nourished had a higher level of breast feeding knowledge than did those whose infants were moderate to severely malnourished (score, 27.13 vs. 16.01-18.75; p .0001). None of the mothers of malnourished infants had an excellent score on breast feeding practices. Differences in the mean score values for breast feeding practices between all consecutive grades of nutrition were significant (20.22 for excellent score, 16.85, 15.53, and 14.18 for grades I, II, and III, respectively; p .001). The only mothers who had an excellent score for infant weaning awareness were 3 mothers whose infants had an excellent nutritional status. A significant difference in mean score values for knowledge of infant weaning between mothers of well nourished infants and grade I malnourished infants (26 vs. 17.19; p .001) as well as between those of grade II malnourished infants and grade III malnourished infants (17.06 vs. 13.64; p .01) were significant. Little difference in infant nutritional status existed between mothers who scored fair and those who scored poor, but, among mothers of well nourished infants, those who scored well were more likely to be have infants of good nutritional status than those who did not score well (47.05% v. 19.56% and 18.33%; p .001). These findings show a decreasing trend between awareness and practice of breast feeding/infant weaning, suggesting that further improvement of health education is needed to reduce the lag between breast feeding awareness and practice.
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