Knowledge and practices of nursing staffs related to Maternal Nutrition and Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) services at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Jharkhand, India: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: The first 1000 days of life is a unique window of opportunity when the foundation of overall optimum health and neurodevelopmental growth across the lifespan is established. OBJECTIVE: To explore the level of knowledge and practice of service providers in delivering maternal, infant, and young child nutrition (MIYCN) services at the point of care. METHODOLOGY: This was a cross-sectional study done in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics of RIMS, Ranchi, Jharkhand from May to September 2019. RESULT: The practices and counseling skills of nursing staff pertaining to maternal nutrition interventions like IFA and calcium supplements was good. Though counseling on maternal minimum dietary diversity, frequency, and quantity of meals was done during the antenatal care period, its knowledge and expected total weight gain during pregnancy were suboptimal. The practice of early initiation of breastfeeding was significantly higher in those who delivered normally (79%) than those by cesarean section (7%). The nursing staff’s knowledge and technical skills on early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding were good, but inadequate for cesarean section. Forty-one percentage of recently delivered women were counseled on colostrum feeding, 17% about positioning and attachment, and 38% on exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) during the first 6 months. In the pediatrics OPD and immunization clinic, 93% of mothers with an infant below 6 months of age, received counseling on EBF, 47% on feeding during illness, and 13% on breastfeeding difficulties and their solutions. Sixty percentage of mothers of children >6 months old received counseling on timely introduction of complementary feeding and 40% on minimum dietary diversity. Forty percentage of mothers were counseled on feeding techniques during and after illness. CONCLUSION: The nursing staffs were providing the services related to MIYCN during antenatal, intranatal, and postnatal services, sick child visits, and immunization visits but their technical knowledge and skills on the specific components were not in accordance with the standard guidelines.