%0 Journal Article
%T Creencias maternas, pr¨¢cticas de alimentaci¨®n, y estado nutricional en ni£¿os Afro-Colombianos
%A Alvarado
%A Beatriz Eugenia
%A Tabares
%A Rosa Elizabeth
%A Delisle
%A Helene
%A Zunzunegui
%A Maria-Victoria
%J Archivos Latinoamericanos de Nutrici¨®n
%D 2005
%I Scientific Electronic Library Online
%X 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.
%K feeding practices
%K nutritional status
%K infants
%K afro-colombian.
%U http://www.scielo.org.ve/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0004-06222005000100008&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en