Abstract :
Background: Undernutrition in young children is a cause of concern, maternal education, and IYCF practices, lack of nutrition knowledge are some of the key aspects for poor nutritional status of young children.
Objectives: To assess themagnitude of under nutrition and IYCF practices of young children (3-5 Y) of Somnath gir, Gujarat.
Methodology : 120 mother and child pairs were randomly enrolled from the selected Anganwadi centers and preschool oSomnath gir f . Information on socioeconomic aspects,IYCF practices were elicited from mothers of young children through pre tested semi structured questionnaire. Height and weight and MUAC of these children were measured using standard methods.nutritional status was assessed using WHO growth standard 2006.
Findings: Sixteen percent of the households had Below Poverty Card (BPL) 70.8% were other backward class. The educational attainment was limited for respondent mothers. Around 2.5 percent of the surveyed mothers never attended schools, and 45.8 percent had attended until grade 7. 57 % of the children were male. The overall stunting prevalence among children less than 60 months of age in the survey areas was 11.1 percent (
Keyword :
Under nutrition, Preschoolers, IYCF, Complementary feeding