Influence of child feeding practices and selected basic Influence of child feeding practices and selected basic conditioning factors on stunting in children between 6 and 24 conditioning factors on stunting in children between 6 and 24 months of age in Myanmar

Abstract

Influenceofchildfeedingpracticesandselectedbasicconditioningfactorson stuntinginchildrenbetween6and24monthsofageinMyanmar Khine-Wai-WaiPhu1,2,JariyaWittayasooporn1*,ChuanruedeeKongsaktrakul1 1. RamathibodiSchoolofNursing,FacultyofMedicine,RamathibodiHospital,MahidolUniversity, Bangkok10400,Thailand 2. NursingandMidwiferyTrainingSchool,Yangon11191,Myanmar *E-mail:jariya.wit@mahidol.ac.th Abstract Background: A cross-sectional predictive study was carried out to examine the influence of child feeding practices on stunting status of children between 6–24 months in Yangon Children Hospital, Myanmar. This studyaimed to assess if dependent-care can influence stunting. Methods: Data were collected by anthropometric measurement from a total of 216 children between 6 and 24 months of age. For mothers, structured interview, demographic form, and infant child feedingindex wereused.Descriptivestatistics,chi-square, and logisticregression werecarried out.Results:One-fourth ofparticipantsexhibitedalowscoreofinfantchild-feedingpractices,whereasmedianandhighscorepracticeaccounted for39.82%and34.72%,respectively.Onlychildfeedingpracticewasshownsignificantassociationandpredictedstunted children. Lowscore (0–5) was more likelyto be stunted 15.45 times [OR 15.45,95% CI; 5.58,42.81] at p = 0.00 and a medium score (6–7) on the infant child feeding index was 4.55 times higher than a high score (8–9) on the infant child feeding index [OR 4.55, 95% CI; 1.72, 12.04] at p = 0.02. Conclusion: Child feeding practice is the only predictor of stuntingstatusofchildrenand interventionprogramforchildfeedingpracticesshouldbeprovided. Keywords:childmalnutrition,complementaryfeeding,growthdisorder,stunting