Infant and young child feeding practices in Lebanon :a national cross-sectional study -

Abstract

Early nutrition is a neglected aspect of maternal and young child health in the Middle East. Data on current maternal and young child nutritional status and dietary practices in Lebanon are lacking. Therefore, this study was undertaken as part of a national project to assess the nutritional status of under two children and their mothers, and to investigate dietary practices and feeding patterns that act as strong determinants for malnutrition (under, over nutrition) and adult onset of chronic non-communicable diseases. This study also aimed at assessing maternal knowledge towards infant feeding practices. A cross-sectional study was conducted on a nationally representative sample (n=478) of 0-2 year old infants and young children and their mothers. Subjects were recruited from randomly selected households based on a stratified cluster sampling from the six governorates of Lebanon. Socio-demographic, lifestyle, dietary and anthropometric data were collected. Prevalence rates of ever-breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months were estimated at 88.49percent and 20.4percent respectively. Regression analysis showed that the odds of exclusive breastfeeding increased significantly with early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour (OR=2.419) and the child being not the first child in the family (OR=2.361). The odds of exclusive breastfeeding were significantly lower amongst babies born small for gestational age (OR=0.268), mothers who reported not being breastfed as a child (OR=0.287) and mothers who scored less than the median on the overall knowledge score (OR=0.274). Among infants who were under 6 months at the interview date, maternal employment was significantly associated with lower odds of exclusive breastfeeding. Children intakes were shown to be deficient in several micronutrients and high sugar intake was also observed. Major maternal knowledge gaps were determined. The prevalence of children at risk of overweight was high (24.7percent) with 3.6percent being obese. The prevalence of obesity in mothers was 24.7percent. Th