Nutritional status of under-five children born to teenage mothers in an urban setting, south-western Nigeria

OBJECTIVE: There have been many studies on the nutritional status of under-fives and factors responsible but very few looks at this special group of women. This study assessed the breastfeeding practices of teenage mothers and determined its association with the nutritional indices of their under-five children. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. A total of 300 mother–child pair was selected using a multi-stage sampling technique from Primary Health Care centres in Ondo West Local Government Area, Ondo State, Nigeria. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were done to identify predictors’ of poor nutritional status at p < 0.05. RESULTS: About 87% initiated breastfeeding less than 1 h after birth while 31.9% breastfed their children exclusively for 6 months. Prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight among the under-fives were 18.6%, 25.3%, and 29.5% respectively. Initiation of breastfeeding more than 1 h after birth increased the odds of stunting (OR = 9.551, CI = 1.279–16.310) and underweight (OR = 6.674, CI = 3.159–14.097) by about 10 and 7 times respectively. Whereas odds of wasting (OR = 2.346, CI = 1.228–4.480) was 2 times higher with breastfeeding duration less than 6 months. Therefore, education of teenage mothers on breastfeeding initiation and duration is vital in reducing malnutrition among under-fives.