Infant and young child feeding practices, sociodemographic factors and their association with nutritional status of children aged <3 years in India: findings of the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau survey, 2011–2012 (original) (raw)

2018, Public Health Nutrition

Objective: To study infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and their association with nutritional status among young children. Design: A community-based, cross-sectional study was carried out in ten states of India, using a multistage random sampling method. Anthropometric measurements such as length/height and weight were conducted and nutritional assessment was done using the WHO child growth standards. Setting: National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau survey, 2011-2012. Participants: Children aged <3 years and their mothers. Results: Only 36 % of infants received breast-feeding within an hour of birth and 50 % were exclusively breast-fed up to 6 months. Prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting was 38, 41 and 22 %, respectively. The chance of undernutrition among <3-year-old children was significantly higher among those from scheduled caste/scheduled tribe communities, the lowest-income group, with illiterate mothers and lack of sanitary latrine. Among infants, the chance of undernutrition was significantly higher among low-birth-weight babies, and among children whose mother had not consumed iron-folic acid tablets during pregnancy. Immunization practices and minimum dietary diversity were observed to be associated with undernutrition among 12-23-month-old children. Conclusions: Undernutrition is still an important public health problem in India and observed to be associated with low socioeconomic status, illiteracy of mother, low birth weight and dietary diversity. Improving socioeconomic and literacy status of mothers can help in improving maternal nutrition during pregnancy and thus low birth weight. Also, improving knowledge of mothers about IYCF practices will help in improving children's nutritional status. Keywords Undernutrition Infant and young child feeding practices Conceptual framework Nutritional assessment Minimum dietary diversity Undernutrition continues to be an important public health problem in India, despite several nutrition intervention programmes in operation over the last four decades. Undernutrition is responsible directly or indirectly for about 45 % of deaths among children under 5 years of age (under-5s) globally, with these children at higher risk of death from common childhood illness such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria (1). Of this, about two-thirds are attributable to suboptimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and occur during first year of life (2). In developing countries, optimal breast-feedingthat is, breast-feeding within an hour of birth, exclusive breast-feeding for 6 months and continued breast-feeding until age 2 years or longerhas the potential to prevent 12 % of all deaths in under-5s (1). Poor feeding practices during infancy and early childhood, resulting in malnutrition, contribute to impairment of cognitive and social development, poor school performance and reduced productivity in later life (3). Exclusively breast-fed children are less susceptible to diarrhoea and pneumonia and are fourteen times more likely to survive than non-breast-fed children (4). IYCF is a key area to improve child survival and promote healthy growth and development. The first 2 years of a child's life