Abstract: The growth rate from birth to three months of some breastfed and non-breastfed infants age 0 – 12 weeks delivered in hospitals at Owo metropolis was evaluated with a view to know the effect of breastfeeding on growth rate. A total of one hundred (100) breastfed and non-breastfed neonates were purposely selected in the neonatal sections of three hospitals in Owo, March 2012. Anthropometry measurement was used to assess growth rate for length, weight, head and mid upper arm circumference of the infants on weekly basis using standard length board, digital weighing scale and shakir tape for twelve weeks. Epi-info 2008 nutritional software was used to determine length for – age z-score, weight for – age z-score, Head and mid-upper arm for age z – scores. Data were analyzed using SPSS soft ware (version 17.0). Results show that the rate of growth in length per week ranged between 0.5 – 1.0cm within 4th to 12th weeks of growth while an average rate of growth in weight of 100 – 400g was discovered between 2nd to 6th weeks of growth among both breastfed and non-breastfed infants. Observation shows that between birth to 4th week formula fed babies tend to be leaner in weight compared to their breastfed counterpart which maintained stable weight within this period. The study shows that breastfeeding significantly (P> 0.05) affect rate of growth among the breastfed infants. Growth pattern of infant skewed toward – 2 and 0 when compared with the NCHS/CDC reference population growth curve. In all, 2% of the breastfed and 8% of non-breastfed were severely underweight. There is no alternative to breastfeeding at this critical stage of life for optimum growth of infants. Therefore, mothers should be encouraged to breastfeed exclusively for 6th months in order to achieve optimum growth and development.

Keywords: Growth rate, Breastmilk, Nutritional status, Infants, weight for age.

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Abstract: Background: The dietary patterns are becoming a major public health concern. The current data from various studies in Zimbabwe shows that there was an increase in the prevalence of obesity among secondary school adolescents in Harare. There is a link between eating habits and obesity. This study was conducted to explore the factors influencing dietary practices among adolescents in Zimbabwean schools.

Methods: A school based analytic cross sectional study was conducted with 283 pupils aged 13-19 years. Systematic random sampling was used. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire based on the ecological framework. The aim of the study was to identify the relationship between dietary patterns and occurrence of obesity. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the relationship between dietary patterns and obesity.

Findings: The prevalence of obesity was 11.4%. Females were 6.79 (95% CI: 2.17-21.22 p=0.001) more likely to be obese. Consumption of sugar and sweetened beverages were associated with occurrence of obesity; beverages (AOR=3.62, 95%CI=1.99-10.91 p=0.025); eating of snacks in between meals (AOR=2.40, 95%CI=1.03-5.64 p=0.004); so was being located in high density suburb (0R=0.45, 95CI=0.21-0.99 p=0.023); consuming burgers (OR=4.41, CI=1.54-12.64 p=0.006); being a pupil in lower adolescent with age less than 16 (OR=1.99 95%CI=0.99-4.27 p=0.038). Consuming a special diet that is recommended or as a choice was protective from obesity though this was not statistically significant. Not removing visible fat from meat was a risk factor for developing obesity. Eating the traditional maize meal staple food, sadza was protective to being obese (OR=0.3514, 0.16-0.78)

Conclusions: The study showed that obesity is a cause for concern among school children as seen by 11.4% prevalence. Choice of meals is done by parents, eating a home cooked meal such as sadza, participating in meal planning was found to be reinforcing factors. There is need to create awareness on students, parents, teachers and the wider community to increase the adoption of healthy dietary practice among school children.

Keywords: Dietary patterns, obesity, determinants, secondary school adolescents, ecological model.

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Abstract: Background: Employed mothers have little time for infant care and doctor visit. They resemble other women who prefer using medicinal plants to treat minor and self-limited medical problems.

Objective: To investigate the frequency of using selected medicinal plant among infants of educated and employed mothers and the indications of use for these medicinal plants in Jordan.

Methods: Observational study was conducted on employed mothers of 100 infants (50 males; 50 females) aged between 2-12 months in Jordan. Infants were divided according to gender into males and females and they were further subdivided into < 6 months and ≥6 months according to age. Infants' mothers were interviewed and asked about the usage and indications of the selected medicinal plants. The health and socio-demographic data were collected by the principal investigator through a valid and reliable questionnaire.

Results: Employed mothers frequently used medicinal plants to treat infantile colic, constipation, coughing or inability to sleep. The most frequently used medicinal plant among employed mothers was anise, Pimpinella anisum (44%) especially for infants aged <6 months which was negatively correlated with infantile colic and positively correlated with induce sleep indication. Thymus vulgaris wascommonly used to treat cough (40%) followed by both chamomile, Matricaria aurea and anise, Pimpinella anisum (30%) while, sage, Salvia triloba was the most frequently used medicinal plants to treat infantile colic (35.71%).

Conclusion: Employed and well-educated mothers frequently used medicinal plants among their infants. The safety of using medicinal plants among infants is questionable.

Keywords: Employed mothers, Ethnopharmacy, Infants, Medicinal plants.

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Abstract: Background: Behaviours around infants feeding influence both nutritive value and the detrimental effects of the infant feeding.

Aim: The study aimed to determine infant feeding practices with implication to child’s oral health and examine the related socio-demographic factors.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study among mothers of the infants who were attending RCH clinics in suburban areas of northwest Tanzania. Cluster sampling technique was used to obtain the participants and a structured questionnaire was used to interview the mothers. Frequency distributions and cross-tabulations were used for analysis and reported as proportions and identified differences between the comparative socio-demographic categories.

Results: Study involved 213 mother-infant pairs; infants’ mean age was 7.22 ± 3.48 months and 53.1% were female babies. Almost all (94.6 %) the infants were breastfed and 75.3% of infants under six months of age were exclusively breastfeeding. In infants age older than six months, 32.6% of mothers reported to have initiated complementary food before the baby turned six months and that sugar sweetened foods were mostly used (68.1%) complementary foods. Higher proportion of mothers who had secondary school education or beyond (43.4%) reported to have initiated complementary food before the recommended age than their counterparts. Mothers who were employed reported to mostly (74.5%) use sugar sweetened complementary foods as compared to unemployed mothers.

Conclusion: Infants of this community were mostly breastfed and initiated complementary feeding earlier than recommended time. Employed mothers and those with secondary education or above tended to have unfavorably infant feeding practices than their comparative groups.

Keywords: Breastfeeding, complementary foods, early childhood caries.

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