MATERNAL OCCUPATION AND CHILD NUTRITIONAL CARE AMONG WORKING MOTHERS OF CHILDREN AGED 6-24 MONTHS IN IBADAN METROPOLIS

Abstract

Malnutrition is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in childhood; pre-school children mainly depend on their mothers for their nutritional care. The involvement of mothers in income generating activities can limit the time for child-care practices which may negatively affect child nutritional status. Influence of maternal occupation on child nutritional care has not been fully explored in Ibadan metropolis. This study was therefore designed to assess the influence of maternal occupation on nutritional care of their children aged 6-24 months in Ibadan metropolis. This cross-sectional survey involved 392 consenting working mothers and their children aged 6- 24 months who were purposively selected from immunization centres in all the four Oyo State owned secondary and tertiary health facilities within Ibadan. A pre-tested, intervieweradministered, semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on mothers’ sociodemographic characteristics, mothers’ occupation and daily working hours. Child nutritional care (CNC) was measured using five domains of care: child feeding knowledge (CFK) 20 points, child feeding practice (CFP) (20 points), child-mother interaction (CMI) (11 points), hygiene practices (HP) (10 points) and health-seeking behaviour (HSB) (23 points). Each of the scales was graded as <50%= poor and ≥ 50%= good. Nutritional status of the children was assessed using dietary diversity index and anthropometry was classified using WHO Anthro 2005 standard. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and logistic regression at p<0.05. Age of respondents and their children were 30.0±5.5 years and 10.0±4.9 months respectively. About half (53.6%) of the children were females. Majority (87%) of the respondents had at least secondary level of education. The mothers’ occupation included: trading (54.9%), artisan (18.6%), civil servants (13.5%) and private white collar jobs (13.0%). Majority (81%) of respondents worked more than 6 hours/day. Proportion of respondents with poor CNC was 31.1% (CFK), 23.7% (CFP), 17.9% (CMI), 25.8% (HP) and 13.0% (HSB). More than half of the children (52.6%) had poor Dietary diversity score. Less than half (42.9%) of the children were stunted, while 24.5%, and 12.0% were underweight and wasted respectively. About half (49%) of the respondents experienced time constraints in giving their children CNC. Although respondents’ occupation did not significantly affect any of the domains of CNC, traders had poorer scores: CFK, CFP, CMI, HP and HSB were 53%, 37%, 45%, 61.4% and 100% respectively. Respondents whose daily working hours was less than or equal to six hours were more likely to have good HP (OR=1.31, 95% C.I: 0.68-2.50) and good CFK (OR=1.87, 95% C.I: 1.02-3.43) compared with mothers whose daily working hours was greater than six hours daily. Respondents who were traders had poor child nutritional care and mothers who worked less than 6 hours daily had better hygiene practices and child feeding knowledge. Traders should prioritize child nutritional care and elongated working hours for women should be avoided during child bearing years.