[Maternal beliefs, feeding practices and nutritional status in Afro-Colombian infants]

Abstract

This study describes maternal practices and beliefs on children feeding and their relationship with nutritional status of Afro-Colombian children aged 6 to 18 months. We combined ethnographic and epidemiological data. We collected information using a food frequency questionnaire. Nine focus groups and 5 deep interviews to mothers of children less than 2 years of age were performed. Our data showed a prevalence of wasting of 2.6% (< -2 SD weight-for-length) and prevalence of stunting of 9.8% (< -2 SD height-for-age). These practices are characterized by a universal onset of breastfeeding, that lasted 10 months in average, and an early introduction of complementary food (mean: 3 months). Breastfeeding is a cultural norm. Weaning is related to new pregnancy, to low milk production and to negative effects of breast process on mothers' health. Early complementary feeding and bottle-feeding are highly valued due to their positive effect on nutritional status and adaptation of children to adult-type diets. The introduction of complementary food after 4 months, the quality of the first food introduced and the diversity of complementary food predicted better nutritional status (p < 0.05). We conclude that nutritional illiteracy and mothers' erroneous beliefs result in 50% of the mothers having inadequate feeding practices. We suggest focused interventions on those beliefs limiting good practices.