Dietary Practices and Nutrition Status of Infants Born to Adolescent Mothers in Transmara West, Narok County, Kenya

Background: Infant and young child feeding practices contribute to the growth and development of infants as well as preventing the occurrence of common illnesses. Infants of young mothers are at risk of malnutrition because they are unprepared for child care.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine dietary practices, health and nutrition status of infants born to adolescent mothers in Transmara West, Narok County.

Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted and five health facilities were purposively selected in Transmara West sub county, Narok County.  A sample size of 246 infants and 246 adolescent mothers were recruited from the selected health facilities. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data which was analyzed using analyzed using SPPS for windows version 24.0 and ENA for SMART survey 2011. Chi-square and Pearson Product Correlation relationship was used to establish associations between variables at a significance level of <0.05.

Result: The findings of the study revealed that most of the mothers were between 16 to 17 years with the youngest mother being 14 years old. The prevalence of wasting, stunting and underweight was 17.1%, 22.0% and 22.0% respectively. The proportion of infants who were breastfed in the 24 hours preceding the study was as follows: 48.8% of 0-6months, 24% 6-8 months and 27.2% of 9-12months.The children that attained the minimum dietary diversity in the age groups included; 37.4% and 53.9% for the age groups 6-8 months and 9-11 months respectively. Slightly less than half (46.3%) of the infants received their recommended minimum meal frequency. Meal frequency and exclusive breastfeeding two weeks before the study were significant (p<0.05) factors associated with malnutrition.

Conclusion: Based on the above outcome, it is recommended that more attention should be given to infants of young mothers. The government and other stakeholders should formulate policies that govern the health care and feeding practices of infants of adolescent mothers. Similar research should be replicated specially to compare the nutrition status of infants of adult mothers with that of young mothers.