The relationship between the clinic-based nutrition instructions given to nursing mothers and their complementary feeding practices in Enugu state

This study covered four different hospitals in Enugu State: University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Mother of Christ Specialist Hospital (MCSH) both in Enugu and Comprehensive Health Centre (CHC), Bishop Shanahan Hospital both in Nsukka. This study ascertained the relationship between the clinic-based nutrition instructions given to the nursing mothers and their infant complementary feeding practices. Three hundred nursing mothers were randomly selected from the four hospitals. Validated questionnaires were used for data collection. There were uniformed infant nutrition instructions given to the nursing mothers by registered nurses in these selected baby-friendly hospitals. Pearson’s product moment correlation (r) analysis was used to obtain the correlation coefficients (r). The study revealed that the relationship between the clinicbased infant nutrition education given to the nursing mothers and their complementary feeding practices were effective for the four hospitals but MCSH had the highest r=0.68 followed by UNTH r=0.49. The t-test result comparing the nursing mothers’ infant complementary feeding practices in Enugu and Nsukka areas (t = 2.019) were significantly different at 5% probability level.