Background of the study: Breast feeding plays a crucial role in nutrition and development of the child followed by introduction of complementary feeding after six months of age while continuing with breastfeeding for at least two years. In Tanzania, most women breastfeed their infants for long period, but many introduce alternative feeding too early in life. The prevalence of underweight children under five years of age is estimated to be 14.6%, So malnutrition is the major cause linked to many diseases and is still a burden in countries including Tanzania. The child’s intake can have a significant impact on health, growth and development. Understanding feeding practices of child’s intake can play a vital role in improving their nutritional status. Children are vulnerable to malnutrition thus nutrition of children is of interest. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between feeding practices and determinants of nutritional status among the Children aged 6-59 months of age.
Aim: To assess feeding practices and determinants of nutritional status among children aged 6-59 months attending clinics at Makongoro Health Centers in MWANZA.
Materials and methods: This was a hospital based cross sectional study undertaken from March to June 2023 to assess the feeding practices and determinants of nutritional status of children and structured questionnaire was used to collect data among mothers of children aged 6-59 months. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 23 based on a total of 384 participants. Descriptive statistics like mean, frequencies and proportion was used to assess the significance of the associated variables
Study population: The study population will involve children aged 6-59 months attending the clinic for normal health services including routine immunization, growth monitoring and nutritional counseling. Mothers of children will be recruited to provide information on feeding practices of the study children.
Results: There were wide variations in knowledge and practice of breastfeeding among women. Majority of women (71.6%) are aged 19-35years. Majority (95.3%) gave colostrum on their infants but more than 40% did not know its benefits. 18% of children did not breastfeed completely their babies. 94 % of infants < 1month of age received breast milk only while 88.5% of women breastfed their babies on demand and 88.8% knew breastfeeding alone was enough for their infants. 84% of women knew about the importance of breastfeeding and 16% of them did not know. Over 89% of infants had normal weights, 6% were underweight and 5% were stunted . EBF was associated with higher scores of height- for-age and weight for height. Maternal age, education level, marital status, occupational status of the respondents were important predictors of EBF and determinants of nutritional status.
Conclusion: Different forms of malnutrition still exist as a public health problem. Several barriers to optimal child feeding were noted that related to cultural beliefs, socioeconomic status and educational levels of the respondents. And also breast feeding practices in the study population were largely suboptimal. As a result, considerable proportions of children had poor health indicators. Thus, correct breastfeeding practices should be supported and promoted since proper nutrition during infancy is essential for attaining and maintaining good health.
Budget: All activities had involved printing and research proposal, report work, printing of checklists documents, stationaries, meals and transport fee and finally submission of the research report, cost an estimated of Tsh 310,000/=