Feeding Practices Among Low Birth Weight and Normal Birth Weight Infants

The first two years of life are the most vital in a child’s growth and development. The nutrition provided during this phase of life, lays the foundation of health and healthy feeding habits. Poor feeding practices during 0-5 years, resulting in malnutrition, contribute to impaired cognitive and social development, and reduced productivity in later life. Research studies were clearly provided the evidence that being born with low birth weight infant is inconvenience for the infants and intervention on feeding practices of infants boost the immediate and long term health and well being of the infants. This prospective study aimed at knowing the feeding practices among low birth weight infants (LBW) from birth to 2 years of age and to compare with normal birth weight (NBW) infants of Mysore city. A total of 106 LBW infants (born with <2.5 kg) as target group and 63 NBW infants (born with ≥ 2.5 kg) as control group were selected as sample. The findings revealed that around 85% of LBW as well as NBW infants were introduced to breast feeding and colostrum on first day and remaining (around 15%) infants were introduced on 2 day. There was a significant association between LBW and NBW infants with regard to feeding schedule and frequency of breast feeding. There was a significant association between LBW and NBW infants with type of milk used for bottle feeding. Nearly equal percentage of LBW and NBW infants were introduced with bottle feeding and weaning foods at same age. There was a significant association between LBW and NBW with regard to age at which normal diet introduced to infants. There was no significant association between the genders among LBW as well as among NBW infants with regards to any issues related to breast feeding, bottle feeding and supplementary feeding practices.