Asian Journal of Clinical Nutrition1992-14702077-2033Asian Network for Scientific Information10.3923/ajcn.2009.12.22MatthewAnigo Kola AmoduAmeh Danladi SaniIbrahim SolomonS. Danbauchi 1200911Studies on infant feeding practices and nutritional status of children
in North Western Nigeria were carried out. More than 50% of caregivers
were full-time housewives while about 39% do not have any form of education.
Main source of drinking water was from unprotected sources like river/lake
(24%), private well (23.0%) and public well (13.5%) while the predominant
source of energy for cooking and main type of toilet in the households
were wood (85.7%) and pit latrines (67%) respectively. On the average,
over 70% of mothers were still breastfeeding at the time of the survey
and duration of breastfeeding was between 13-24 months (73.4%). Only 54.3%
of mothers in North West practiced exclusive breastfeeding for the first
six months but in addition to breastmilk over three-quarter of caregivers
gave plain water while 50% of caregivers in Kaduna state ever bottlefed
their child with infant formula mostly from the 6th month. Few caregivers
(19%) that bottlefeeds always sterilizes them. Complementary foods were
introduced to majority of the children much earlier at 3rd month (41.2%)
than the 6th month recommended while some caregivers introduces complementary
foods at 1-2 months (17.8%). This study revealed that on the average,
31.7% of the children sampled were severely stunted which was lower than
the National average. More attention needs to be paid to the specific
behaviours surrounding feeding and any constraints to childcare in North
Western Nigeria.]]>Black, R.E., G.L. de Romana, K.H. Brown, O.G. Bazalar and H.C. Kanashtro,1989129785799Brown, K.H., H.C. Kanashiro and K.G. Dewey,199516320329Daelmans, B. and R. Saadeh,20032003pp: 10-17pp: 10-17De Onis, M., C. Monteiro, J. Akre and G. Clugstone,199371703712De Pee, S., R. Moench-Pfanner and M.W. Bloem,20032003pp: 23-27pp: 23-27Hautvast, J.L.A., L.J.M. Vander Heijden, A.K. Luneta, W.A Van Staveren, J.J.M. Tolboom and S.M. Van Gastel,1999535059Hossain, M.I., M.A. Wahed and S. Ahmed,200526323329Jones, G., R.W. Steketee, R.E. Black, Z.A. Bhutta and S.S. Morris,20033626571Lutter, C.,20032003pp: 4-10pp: 4-10Lutter, C.K. and J.A. Rivera,20031332941s2949sMadise, N.J. and M. Mpoma,199718190201Martines, J.C., I. Rea and De Zoysa,199230410681069Sheth, M. and R. Dwivedi, 2006736164NFCNS,20042004PAHO/WHO,20032003Ruel, M.T., C.E. Levin, M. Armar-Klemesu, D. Maxwell and S.S. Morris,19992719932009Ruel, M.T.,20032003pp: 20-22pp: 20-22Sandoval-Priego, A.A., H. Reyes-Morals, D. Perez-Cuevas, R. Abrego-Blass and E.S. Orrico-Torres,20024419UNICEF,19901990UNICEF,20012001WHO,19791979WHO,199573165174WHO,20012001WHO,20022002WHO,1993Papers on Food and Nutrition, No. 3.