Maternal knowledge and practices of factors associated with obesity of children under five

Early activity and eating patterns can lead to obesity and determine patterns later in life. Research on activity and food parenting practices for young children is scarce. The aim of this article is to describe the knowledge and practices that may lead to obesity in mothers and children under the age of five at seven public health centres in the Eastern Cape. A quantitative study with a convenience sample of 142 mothers was used. Fieldworkers assisted mothers in completing a questionnaire. Excel (2016) and SPSS version 28.0 were used for descriptive statistics, and Pearson Chi-square tests determined associations. From the results, none of the mothers met the recommendations for daily moderate activity; only 14.7% of the children were moderately active, while 32% demonstrated excessive television time. Food is most often boiled (83.8%) with salt added (54.9%). Sweet snacks (34.4%), sugar-sweetened beverages (31.6%) and savoury snacks (44.4%) were consumed often. Fruit and vegetables were eaten once or more daily by only 49.3% and 13.4% of the children, respectively. Emphasis on preparing food at home and eating fruit and vegetables in educational programmes is encouraged. This can assist mothers in gaining the correct knowledge and skills, to prevent obesity in children and later in life.