KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF MOTHERS, REGARDING THE SUPPLEMENTARY NUTRITION OF BREAST-FED INFANTS, YASUJ, IRAN

Abstract

Introduction: Optimal growth and development of infants requires correct nutrition, and suitable alimentary habits. Mothers’ wrong use of supplementary nutrition and their lack of knowledge is one of the most important causes of malnutrition. This study was conducted in order to determine the knowledge and practice of supplementary nutrition among mothers with 6 -12 months old infants. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 180 mothers with6 -12 month old infants, who were referring to health centers of Yasuj University and Medical Sciences, were selected by randomly sampling in 2008.Researchers attended different clinics in the morning shifts, and the questionnaires, which were used as data collecting tools, were completed by conducting interview with mothers. Afterwards, the collected data was analyzed by SPSS 17 software, using descriptive statistics, and Chi-square. Results: As the results show, the majority of mothers (78.3%) had sufficient knowledge of supplementary nutrition. Also, there were no significant differences in mother’s knowledge based on their age, occupation, educational level and birth order. Other results show that the majority of mothers (62.8%) had good practice regarding the nutrition of their infants (P = 0.03). Also, there was appositive relationship between mother’s knowledge and practice of supplementary nutrition (P = 0.04). Conclusion: According to this study, it can be concluded that the knowledge and practice of majority of mothers about supplementary nutrition sufficient. Moreover, in order to broaden the knowledge of the personnel in health centers, mass media must be used to find the important related issues.