Impacts of Eating Behaviors of Pregnant and Lactating Women on the Nutritional Status of Children ..

Background: Malnutrition has serious consequences, particularly for the survival and growth of children, as well as the health of pregnant and breastfeeding women.

The goal of our research is to see how pregnant and nursing women's eating habits affect the nutritional health of children under the age of six months in the Lake Chad region.

380 patients, including 106 pregnant women, were studied in a cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study. From October 1 to November 30, 2017, a survey of 137 breastfeeding mothers and 137 children under the age of six months was done in a few hospitals and health centres in the Lake Chad Region, utilising a questionnaire given to pregnant and nursing women following their assent. We were able to assess the food intake of the surveyed women using the 24-hour recall and the frequency of consumption of the food groups. Anthropometric and biochemical measurements were used to determine the nutritional status of mothers and children. The SPSS version 20 programme was used to analyse the data. At a significance level of 5%, the Chi-square test allowed us to establish the correlations between the different variables.

Only 8.5 percent and 10.9 percent of pregnant and lactating women, respectively, achieved sufficient dietary diversity scores, according to this study. The rate of exclusive breastfeeding was 11.7 percent, while the percentage of rapid breastfeeding initiation after delivery was 50.4 percent. 19 percent of the youngsters were wasting, 31.4 percent were stunted, 34.3 percent were underweight, and 56.4 percent were anaemic. Malnutrition affected 34 percent and 29 percent of pregnant and lactating women, respectively; 17 percent and 10.2 percent were at danger of malnutrition, with 60.6 percent and 50 percent of pregnant and lactating women suffering from anaemia.

Conclusion: Maternal feeding patterns, such as poor dietary diversity scores and daily meals, were modifiable factors that significantly influenced children's nutritional status. Underweight and the prevalence of children's anaemia in mothers, as well as a lack of sanitation and sanitary follow-up.

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