Infant and young child feeding practices among mothers attending immunization clinic in tertiary health care centre, Haryana

Dr. Sunidhi Karol; Dr. Pardeep Khanna; Dr. Mohit Karol

Volume : VIII, Issue : VI, June - 2019

Infant and young child feeding practices among mothers attending immunization clinic in tertiary health care centre, Haryana

Dr. Sunidhi Karol, Dr. Pardeep Khanna, Dr. Mohit Karol

Abstract :

Childhood malnutrition rates are high in the country with 43% children in India under five years reported to be underweight and 48% are stunted. The steep rise in malnutrition in children during the first two years of life is indicative of poor infant feeding practices so optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices are the key to improving child survival rates. Rationale: Most of the studies conducted in India have focused on mainly the eastfeeding aspects and not on the dietary diversity and diet frequency aspects, which are important in IYCF. Aim & objective: This study was done to assess the IYCF practices among mothers attending immunization clinic of PGIMS Rohtak. Material & Methods: hospital based cross-sectional study done among mothers having children of 0-23 months using pretested semi structured interview schedule over 3 month duration . Results: 51% mothers� timely initiated eastfeeding at birth. 70% mothers did not exclusively eastfeed their babies up to 6 months. Age appropriate complementary feeding was started in 57% children. MMF among eastfed was 36.6%. MDD and MAD was observed in 45% & 32%.