Infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF): Its impact on nutritional status of infants 6-23 months in Akpabuyo, cross river state, Nigeria

Effective infant feeding practices remains a major child survival strategy. During the period of infancy and early childhood, good and optimal nutrition is essential to improve child survival and promote optimal health as infant and young child feeding practices directly affects infants’ nutritional status and ultimately, impacts child survival. Hence, this study aimed at accessing Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices of mothers and its impact on the nutritional status of children aged 6-23 months in a rural Nigerian community. A cross sectional survey involving 440 mother-infant pairs was conducted using a simple random sampling technique. Information on infant feeding practices, mothers’ knowledge and attitude towards the WHO infant feeding guidelines, food intake and anthropometric characteristics of infants were obtained using a focused group discussion, semi-structured questionnaire and 24-hour dietary recall. Infant feeding indicators and anthropometric indices were estimated using the 2008 WHO recommendation and Anthro software, respectively. Data analysis was carried out with descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentage and results expressed as mean ± SD at significant levels of p<0.05. Mothers to a large extent still hold unto some traditional IYCF practices, therefore, compliance to the WHO recommendation on IYCF were low. About 51.60% of mothers-initiated breast feeding 1hour at birth, 23.00% fed breast milk exclusively for 6 months, 24.70% introduced complementary feeding at 6 months, 12.21% practiced continued breast feeding, minimum and high dietary diversity were 42.00% and 8.00% respectively. Using MUAC, the prevalence of mild malnutrition was observed in 41.10% and 31.40% while moderate malnutrition was observed in 14.72% and 7.94% of breastfed infants receiving complementary food and non-breast-fed infants receiving complementary food respectively. It can be concluded from the study that the nutritional status of children in Akpabuyo local Government Area is less than optimal, owing to ignorance on the path of the parents and inadequate food intake. This calls for an intervention.