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  • Title: Infant feeding practices in rural Bangladesh.
    Author: Das DK, Talukder MQ, Sella GE.
    Journal: Indian J Pediatr; 1992; 59(5):573-7. PubMed ID: 1459679.
    Abstract:
    A longitudinal study was done on the infant feeding practices in a rural area. One hundred and ten infants were followed up from birth to 1 year of age by alternate day home visits, to inquire about the type of food, and frequency of consuming it. It was found that 100% mothers breast-fed their infants from birth to 1 year, almost every day. But, bottles containing various kinds of milk and starchy food were added to 60% of infants diets by 3 months, and 80% by 5 months of age. This additional food was given mostly in diluted form, which was more so in case of tinned milk. Family food such as rice and vegetables were given in 30% and 40% child days respectively from 6 months to 1 year. Rural people withhold protein food and fruits during infancy. It is concluded, that infant feeding practices in our population is improper and mothers should, therefore, be trained and motivated on weaning practices for timely and adequate supplementation to ameliorate the presently observed dietary deficiency and early malnutrition in rural Bangladesh. Field workers collected data on 110 infants born to women living in 12 villages of Dhamrai Upazilla, Bangladesh, to determine infant feeding practices in a rural area. All of the mothers breastfed their infants for 1 year, but only 20% exclusively breastfed for 5 months. At 1 month, 16% of the infants had already received bottle feedings. Between 1 and 5 months, bottle feeding comprised 47% of child days. 82% of foods fed by bottle comprised cow milk or powdered milk. Just 20% of cases received full-strength cow milk. None of the powdered milk or goat milk was given at full strength. Water was used to dilute the various milks. Other bottle food were condensed liquid milk, sugar water, rice gruel, wheat gruel, and barley. Just 5% of infants had received solid foods by 6 months, but by 12 months they all had received solid foods. Between 7 months and 1 year, infants received rice during 30% of child days. This figure for vegetables and fish/meat was 4% and 1%, respectively. Mothers gave infants eggs only once in every 270 child days. Dal, a good source or protein, was only given in 0.3% of child days. These findings indicate that improper timing and the quality and quantity of weaning food accounted for the high rate of malnutrition in Dhamrai Upazilla. Thus, health workers need to train and motivate mothers to practice sound weaning practices (i.e., well-timed and sufficient supplementation) to reduce dietary deficiency and early malnutrition.
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