Abstract:
Breastfeeding is a natural process, which is well established to provide many health benefits for
both mothers and their infants. However the nutrient intake of lactating mothers is one of the
most important determinants of mother’s health, well-being and the ability for long-term
successful breastfeeding. Therefore it is important to determine the dietary quality, nutritional
status and nutritional composition of foods consumed by lactating mothers in order to contribute
comprehensive baseline information to the country-specified policy makers that can be used in
improving maternal nutrition, social and economic wellbeing of the society. This study was
aimed to assess nutritional status, dietary quality and associated factors among 558 lactating
mothers from purposively selected three districts: Mana, Omo-nada and Dedo of Jimma zone,
southwestern Ethiopia. Community based cross-sectional survey design and multistage stratified
clustered sampling techniques were used in this study. A scale of seven food groups was used for
assessing dietary diversity and food variety within 24- hr recall and The proximate, mineral and
anti-nutritional composition of commonly consumed foods were analyzed at EPHNRI. Statistical
analyses were carried out using SPSS (version 20).The prevalence of “low DDS” was high
(P<0.05) in rural mothers, informally educated mothers, mothers who reside in lower HH
wealth status, and being in Omo Nada District (cereal crop producing).On the bivariate
analysis; husband’ occupation, low household wealth status and younger age of the study
participants were positively associated with chronic energy deficiency (p<0.05). Other
predictable variables like DDS, family size and lactating mother’s education have no
association, (p>0.05) with chronic energy deficiency. On multivariable linear regression BMI
was positively associated with having additional two meals a day (β=0.529, P=0.080), house
hold wealth (β=0.721, P=0.004), age (β=0.72, P=0.000) and husband’s occupation (β=0.206,
P=0.001) whereas marital status was negatively associated (β=0.412, P=0.483) with BMI. All
the commonly consumed foods by lactating mothers were not sufficient to meet the energy
requirements, (NAR<1). The overall nutrient adequacy MAR was below the cut-off point for all
food types. The feeding practices, dietary intakes in relation to diversified diet and nutritional
adequacy of common foods were below the national and international recommendation. Unless
the risk factors identified and minimized, the l
