Abstract:  Background: Nutritional exposures and growth in early life are linked to immediate and also to long term health outcomes.

Objective: To assess infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices using WHO-UNICEF defined indicators in rural and urban-slum populations in India.

Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in mothers and infants up to age 24 months. Data on socio-demographics, birth history, feeding practices (WHO-UNICEF IYCF indicators), maternal weight, height, and infant’s weight, length, mid-arm, and head circumferences were collected.

Results: Five hundred and two (252 rural and 250 urban-slum) mother-infant dyads were studied. Proportions of IYCF indicators in rural and urban-slum infants were: Early initiation of breastfeeding 71 and 64%; Exclusive breastfeeding under six months, 59 and 25%; Minimum acceptable diet 11 and 27% respectively. Consumption of animal-source food (other than dairy products) and vitamin-A rich fruits and vegetables was below 15%. Cesarean section [aOR, 95% CI: 2.94 (1.53, 5.65)], hospitalization of newborn [aOR, 95% CI: 6.21 (2.95, 13.16)], pre-lacteal feeding [aOR, 95% CI: 3.38 (1.77, 6.45)], needing help in breastfeeding [aOR, 95% CI: 2.15 (1.04, 4.17)], and male gender [aOR, 95% CI: 2.13 (1.15, 4.25); p<0.05 for all] were associated with delayed initiation of breastfeeding, whereas lower monthly household income [aOR, 95% CI: 2.62 (1.10, 6.25)], and younger age [aOR, 95% CI: 1.24 (1.11, 1.38); p<0.05 for both] were associated with poor dietary diversity.

Conclusions: Education of optimum IYCF practices, targeting early initiation of breastfeeding, increasing meal frequency and intake of vitamin-A rich and animal-source foods need urgent attention.

Keywords:  Breastfeeding, complementary feeding, India, IYCF practices, predictors.

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Abstract:  Obesity, which can occur due to numerous causes especially from genetics to nutrition disorders, is a major problem not only for adults but also for children. Childhood obesity causes acute and chronic physical problems in children, but physical effects of obesity, as well as psycho-social effects on children, is a substantial issue. This study was conducted to analyze the effect of different weight status on social-emotional skills of adolescents. The research group comprised 189 female and 194 male of 383 total children who were still on the 6th, 7th and 8th grades at the schools. The General Information Form prepared by the researchers and the "Social Emotional Learning Skills Scale" developed by Kabakçı and Korkut Owen were utilized as data collection tools. Two-way analysis of variance and Tukey tests were performed for the analysis of the data. As a result of the study conducted, it is observed that social-emotional learning skills of adolescents aged 12-14 years are significantly different according to their weight status and gender. It has been found that the communication and social-emotional skills of overweight adolescents are significantly lower than normal adolescents and that obese adolescents have significantly lower communication, problem-solving, coping with stress, self-worth increasing and social-emotional learning skills than thin, normal and overweight adolescents. It is observed that male adolescents have significantly lower communication, problem-solving, stress coping and social-emotional learning skills than female adolescents.

Keywords:  Adolescence, childhood obesity, weight status, social-emotional skills.

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