title: [Feeding practices in 6-to-24-month-old children in Yaoundé, Cameroon: relationship with their nutritional status].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Shifting from breastfeeding to solid food is known as the complementary feeding period. When complementary feeding is inadequate, malnutrition results in most cases. These practices differ depending on cultural and religious backgrounds as well as geographical location. Ruel and Menon studied the relationship between feeding practices during diversification and nutritional status of children at 6 and 36 months, using a score called the Infant and Child Feeding Index (ICFI). This ICFI scored feeding practices such as breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, food diversity, and meal frequency, which has never been studied in Cameroon.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to describe actual feeding practices in children in our context as well as to investigate their relationship with children's nutritional status.
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a cross-sectional study throughout the month of January 2011 at the Chantal-Biya Foundation. Mothers completed a questionnaire on how their infants were fed at birth, the initiation of complementary food, and feeding practices for the 3 days before the survey. The children's anthropometric parameters were noted. All mothers coming for vaccination or vitamin A supplementation for their children aged between 6 and 24 months were enrolled in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We enrolled 197 mothers and their infants. Breastfeeding was the main feeding method at birth, but was exclusive until 6 months for only 15 % of the infants. Three-quarter of nursing mothers started adding complementary food at age 4-6 months, using pap. Half of the children did not receive animal products, fruits, or vegetables. When applying the ICFI to these practices, it appeared that the various diversification practices scored less than 8 for 50% of the population. A positive association was noted between the ICFI and nutritional status, as expressed by height-of-age Z-score (HAZ) and the weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We concluded that the codified feeding practices with respect to Ruel and Menon's ICFI are associated with the nutritional status of children between 6 and 24 months in Yaounde, Cameroon.
authors.affiliation: Service de pédiatrie générale, centre Mère-Enfant de la Fondation Chantal-Biya, BP 25121, Yaoundé, Cameroun; Département de nutrition et santé publique, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun. Electronic address: suzysap@gmail.com.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ngo Um-Sap
authors.affiliation: Service de pédiatrie générale, centre Mère-Enfant de la Fondation Chantal-Biya, BP 25121, Yaoundé, Cameroun; Département de pédiatrie, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun; Département de nutrition et santé publique, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mbassi Awa
authors.affiliation: Service de pédiatrie générale, centre Mère-Enfant de la Fondation Chantal-Biya, BP 25121, Yaoundé, Cameroun; Département de nutrition et santé publique, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hott
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'épidémiologie, centre Pasteur du Cameroun, Cameroun; Département de nutrition et santé publique, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tchendjou
authors.affiliation: Institut national de statistique, Yaoundé, Cameroun; Département de nutrition et santé publique, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Womga
authors.affiliation: Département de pédiatrie, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun; Département de nutrition et santé publique, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanya
authors.affiliation: Service de pédiatrie générale, centre Mère-Enfant de la Fondation Chantal-Biya, BP 25121, Yaoundé, Cameroun; Département de pédiatrie, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun; Département de nutrition et santé publique, faculté de médecine et des sciences biomédicales, université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroun.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Koki Ndombo
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D002163:Cameroon; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003906:Developing Countries; D005248:Feeding Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food; D007228:Infant Nutrition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires