Nutritional Status and Existing Early Childhood Feeding Practice of under-Five Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in Rural Bangladesh

Introduction: The present study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of malnutrition and its association with existing feeding practices and other factors among under-five (U5) children in a rural setting of Bangladesh. Aim: This study aimed to explore the nutritional status, feeding practices, and demographic profiles of under-five (U5) children in rural Bangladesh. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out on 404 children (0-59 months) from the Noakhali district, Bangladesh. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the significant predictor variables for child malnutrition. Results: The study revealed, there were 30.4% stunting, 37.3% underweight, and 16%  wasting in children. A strong relationship was found between underweight and three variables, namely- maternal education, paternal occupation, and child's age (p<0.05) respectively. The  risk of being underweight for a child from an illiterate mother was 2.18 times more                               (AOR: 2.18, 95% CI: 1.09, 4.37) compared to children from mothers having secondary/higher education. Child’s gender also had a strong association with wasting where male child was  more prone to wasting than its female counterpart (p<0.05). The SEM results showed that, nutritional status of children was negatively affected by mother’s education, age of child and  family income (<0.01). Maternal education and age of children were considered to be important determinants of chronic malnutrition (stunting). The prevalence of exclusive breast-feeding under the age of 6 months was 57.9%, and continued breast-feeding till the age of one year was 86.2%. Conclusion: Social and cultural issues need to be addressed, and appropriate strategies should be taken to ameliorate the existing feeding practice for U5 children to reduce malnutrition in this rural setting of Bangladesh.