Abstract

This study assessed the nutritional status of children under 0 – 2 years using anthropometric measurement approach in selected primary Health Centers (PHC) in Ife North Local Government of Area of Osun State and identified mothers’ perceived factors that influenced nutritional status these children. It also investigated the feeding practices engaged by mothers of 0-2 children. A descriptive cross sectional study that targeted a population of 200 mothers with children 0 – 2 years attending the selected PHCs used a simple random sampling technique to select a sample size of 160 mothers using Slovin’s formula. Weighing scale, stadiometer, and Shakir’s tape were used to get data from 0 – 2 children while a self-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from mothers of these children. Face and content validity of the questionnaire were ensured by experts in related research field with a mean reliability coefficient of 0.66 using the test re-test method. Data collected were analyzed using Emergency Nutrition Assessment for Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transition (ENA for SMART) software and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The research hypotheses were tested using chi square at 5% level of significance. The study revealed that underweight (8.8%), stunting (9.4%) and wasting (6.9%) were found among the children. Furthermore, lack of readily available nutritional food, lack of money to buy adequate food, inability of child to eat his or her food well, stringent work schedule and husbands being the only source of income were major factors identified as hindering the nutritional status of the children. About 91.2% of the mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding and 23.8% used locally available food as complementary feeding after exclusively breastfeeding their children. It is recommended that government authorities should organize women empowerment programmes on skills acquisition to help them to be self-reliance.