Abstract

A STUDY ON FEEDING PRACTICES AND BELIEFS OF MOTHERS IN A VILLAGE OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA

Dr. Ronjoy Majumder* and Dr. Md. Samsuzzaman

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Abstract

Introduction: It is seen in general practice that children are often given less food during illness. Food restriction in illness leads to calorie deprivation and malnutrition. Objective: To find different beliefs and practices of diet. Methodology: Observational crosssectional study was done in Amdanga block on children less than 5years age. Study was done by predesigned pretested structured questionnaire to know the caregivers feeding practices, advice given by doctors, if at all they visited doctor, any home remedies given, and if elders influenced caregivers’ decision. The study sample was taken up by applying simple random sampling method among the under 5 children. Results: Total of 88 mothers were interviewed. 52.9% of children were in age group of 12-23 months. A remarkable 39.8 % of infants were not given EBF at all. Only 33.0 % were given EBF for 6months, that only 26.1% of children were given complimentary feeding at 6months of age. During diarrhoea, only 80.7% of children were given ORS, but Holy water was given to cure diarrhoea by 46.6% of the mothers. Only 40.9% of the study population practiced hand washing with soap before food and 51.0% washed their hands with soap after defecation. In the present study it was seen that spicy food(93.2%), egg (92.1%) and flesh food (89.8%)were regarded as hot food by mothers; most common cold food were dahi, ice cream (96.6%), coconut and dab water (94.3%) and banana 89.8%. Conclusion: Concept of food restrictions are present very strongly in the society not only in people but also in care providers. This needs to be uprooted by IEC and BCC.

Keywords: Food restrictions, feeding practices, prelacteal, EBF, hot and cold food.