Assessment of Feeding Habits and Nutritional Status of Infants Admitted in Kumba Hospitals (South-West Region, Cameroon)

Aims: Malnutrition remains an issue of public health concern in Cameroon. Optimal infant feeding habits and maternal risk factors influence the prevalence of malnutrition. This work aimed to evaluate the influence of feeding habits and risk factors on the nutritional status of infants in Kumba hospitals.

Study design: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out for a period of 3 months at the Maternal and Child Protection (PMI) and Kumba District hospitals.

Methodology: The age of the children were recorded from their immunization cards. The measurements of length and weight of children were recorded. Questionnaires were administered through simple random sampling to care givers of 227 infants at the welfare clinics from which information on feeding habits, anthropometric parameters and socio-demographic status was obtained. The Z-score classifications for malnutrition was used to estimate the deterioration in weight and height of children in reference to the children of same age and sex.

Results: There was a low prevalence (14%) of exclusive breast feeding. A high prevalence of early initiation of breast feeding within the first hour of birth at 85% was observed. Early introduction to energy dense complementary food at 67.2% was observed in infants between 0-5 months accounting for the high prevalence of overweight, and possible risk obesity. Furthermore, it was found that 17% of children were stunted, 14.60% were wasted, and 11.70% were underweight. Among them, stunting was highest in children 0-3 months who were on breast milk. Moreover, a significant relationship was observed between marital status and stunting (P<0.05), and underweight and unemployment (P<0.05).

Conclusion: This study revealed that exclusive breast feeding from 0 to 6 months was poorly practiced. Thus leading to a high prevalence of wasting, overweight and obesity among admitted children in Kumba hospitals. This was also found to be linked to malnutrition, marital and professional status.