THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTAL FEEDING PATTERN WITH THE INCIDENCE OF STUNTING IN TODDLERS IN GLAGAHWERO VILLAGE, KALISAT DISTRICT, JEMBER REGENCY

Background: The prevalence of stunting in Indonesia reached 21.6%. Stunting not only caused by unbalanced food intake, but multi-factorial. These factors are related to parental feeding patterns, food access, health service access, environmental sanitation, education level, and household income level. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between parental feeding patterns, namely the history of exclusive breastfeeding, history of complementary, eating frequency, and variety of food ingredients with the incidence of stunting in toddlers in Glagahwero Village, Kalisat District, Jember Regency. Methods: Quantitative research with a cross-sectional research design was used. Forty-nine toddlers were obtained using a simple random sampling technique based on Lwangga and Lemeshow’s formula (1997). The data collection of this study used questionnaires on the history of exclusive breastfeeding, the history of MP-ASI, the accuracy of toddler meal frequency, and the accuracy of food variety. The statistical analysis used was the Chi-Square test. Results: There was a relationship between meal frequency and food variety (p = 0.003), and there was no relationship between the history of exclusive breastfeeding (p = 0.556), history of MP-ASI (p = 0.786) with the incidence of stunting in toddlers in Glagahwero Village, Kalisat District, Jember Regency. Conclusion: Eating frequency and the consumption of diverse food items are associated with the incidence of stunting in toddlers. As part of efforts to prevent stunting, promoting optimal feeding practices, including meal frequency and food variety, is crucial for pregnant women and mothers of toddlers