Dietary pattern and prevalence of malnutrition among lactating mothers and their under-five children attending primary health centres in Owo, Ondo State

Background: The lactation period is crucial in developing countries due to its positive impact on infant health and nutrition. Objective: This study assessed the dietary patterns and malnutrition among lactating mothers and their under-five children attending primary health centres in Owo, Ondo State. Method: A simple random sampling method was used to select 250 healthy lactating mothers with infants aged 0-59 months. Information on socio-demographic variables, health-seeking behaviours, food consumption patterns, and nutritional status was obtained using a well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 25. The chi-square test determined associations between variables, with significance considered at p<0.05. Result: The study revealed that 68.4% of the mothers were aged 20-29, 94.4% were married, and 48.0% had household sizes of 1-3. About 97.6% of the mothers had babies of normal birth weight, while 54.0% received health services at the health centres. Approximately 89% of the mothers did not consume alcohol, and 55.2% ate cereal or cereal products daily. The Food Consumption Score (FCS) showed that 53.6% had an acceptable score, while 8.4% had a poor score. For the Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), 73.6% had a highly diverse diet, while 19.6% had low dietary diversity. The prevalence of obesity among the mothers was 31.2% based on BMI, 38.8% based on waist circumference, and 68.0% based on waist-hip ratio. Among the children, 17.4% of males and 11.1% of females were underweight, while 72.0% had a normal weight for their age. Only 14% were overweight, and stunting was observed in 16% of the children, more prevalent among males. Wasting was seen in 10.0% of the under-five children. Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of a double burden of malnutrition among the mothers and their children.