Background

In South Asia, one in two children under the age of five are stunted or wasted due to malnutrition, which affects one in three children globally. There are close linkages between maternal health care services and child feeding practices which needs to be investigated.

Materials and Method

The present study analyzed two rounds of Demographic Health Surveys cross-sectional data carried out between year 2005 and 2016 in three selected South Asian countries viz. India, Nepal, and Bangladesh respectively. This study is based on children under 5 years of age which are nested within mothers aged 15–49 years. Inferential statistical analysis like Chi-square was used to test the association, and regression model was used to analyze the effect of mother’s Maternal and Child Health care services utilization on the child’s feeding score after controlling for socio-economic and demographic factors. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of utilization of maternal care services on child feeding practices in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Results

Our result shows that mother's secondary or higher level of education, more than four-antenatal care visits, and deliverying in a health facility was associated with a higher chance of child feeding practices. Multivariate linear regression revealed that education, antenatal care visits, and postnatal care visits had positive and significant effect on child feeding, while mothers who were 15–19 years of age were less likely to feed child. The results from this analysis imply that there are various regional and national influences on the determination of mothers’ practices on child feeding. Furthermore, there are other factors that indicate that mother’s practices are influenced by situational and time factors.

Conclusion

Overall, with multiple maternal and child health care contacts with the health system, there is an opportunity to promote child feeding practices. The study results are critical and emphasises the need for making strategies and policies for better nutritional outcome and child feeding practices. Disadvantaged women in terms of education, antenatal care, birth at a health institution, and postnatal visits must be targeted to improve child feeding practices.

中文翻译：

---

印度、尼泊尔和孟加拉国孕产妇护理服务对五岁以下儿童喂养习惯的作用

背景

在南亚，二分之一的五岁以下儿童因营养不良而发育迟缓或消瘦，这影响了全球三分之一的儿童。孕产妇保健服务与儿童喂养做法之间存在密切联系，需要进行调查。

材料与方法

本研究分析了 2005 年至 2016 年在三个选定的南亚国家（即印度）进行的两轮人口健康调查横断面数据。分别是印度、尼泊尔和孟加拉国。这项研究以 15-49 岁母亲的 5 岁以下儿童为对象。采用卡方等推论统计分析方法检验相关性，并在控制社会经济和人口因素后，采用回归模型分析母亲妇幼保健服务利用对儿童喂养评分的影响。本研究的目的是调查印度、尼泊尔和孟加拉国孕产妇护理服务的利用对儿童喂养方式的影响。

结果

我们的结果表明，母亲的中等或更高学历、四次以上的产前检查以及在医疗机构分娩与儿童喂养的机会较高有关。多元线性回归显示，教育、产前检查和产后检查对儿童喂养有显着的正向影响，而15-19岁的母亲喂养孩子的可能性较小。该分析的结果表明，不同地区和国家对母亲喂养儿童的做法的决定存在不同的影响。此外，还有其他因素表明母亲的做法受到情境和时间因素的影响。

结论

总体而言，通过与卫生系统的多次妇幼保健接触，有机会促进儿童喂养做法。研究结果至关重要，强调需要制定战略和政策，以实现更好的营养结果和儿童喂养实践。必须针对在教育、产前保健、卫生机构分娩和产后就诊等方面处于弱势的妇女，改善儿童喂养方式。