title: [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.
authors.affiliation: Grupo AntroPacífico, Unidad de Epidemiología Clínica, Universidad del Cauca, Popayán, Colombia.
authors.forename: Beatriz Eugenia
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Alvarado
authors.forename: Rosa Elizabeth
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Tabares
authors.forename: Helene
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Delisle
authors.forename: Maria-Victoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Zunzunegui
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D044383:Black People; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D001942:Breast Feeding; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D004522:Educational Status; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014886:Weaning