Maternal Knowledge and Practice Regarding Children’s Nutrition and Impact on Growth of their Children in Sixth of October City, Cairo.

Background: Malnutrition has been responsible for 60% of the 10.9 million annual deaths
and 50 to 70% of the burden of diarrheal disease and respiratory tract infections among
under-five year’s old children. It is also a major cause of disability preventing children from
reaching their full developmental potential. In the context of nutrition and food consumption;
knowledge is generally defined as the understanding of the health benefits of different foods
and nutrients. This awareness of healthy nutrition is then translated to feeding practice.
Objectives: To assess mothers’ feeding knowledge and practice of their 6 to 60 months old
children in 6th of October City and to evaluate the influence of this knowledge on their
children’s nutritional status. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among
mothers-children pairs randomly selected from two family health centers in 6th of October
city using an interview questionnaire, 24 hr. dietary recall, and anthropometric
measurements. Results: Interviewed participants were 252; mean mothers’ age was 27.9 ± 6
years, 81% were housewives, and 61% had higher than 2ry school education. Early initiation
of breastfeeding (BF) was reported by 28.9% of mothers, 51.2% practiced exclusive BF for
4-6 months, 25.4% gave formula milk during 1st 6 month of life, 16.4% continued breast
feeding up to 2 years. Stunting, wasting & overweight among children were 20.2%, 6% and
9.9% respectively. Mother`s age, education, nutritional knowledge and practice scores, and
family socioeconomic status significantly affected child`s Height for age Z-score (HAZ) and
Weight for Height Z-score (WHZ). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that mothers had
good knowledge and practice regarding most aspects of BF and weaning yet they showed
poor practice of early initiation and continuation of BF, introduction of meat and whole eggs,
child`s consumption of fruits , vegetables, and eggs.