Assessment of nutritional status of lactating mothers in Multan, Pakistan: A case study.

Abstract

Objective: The main purpose of the study was to assess the nutritional status of lactating mothers. Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: Fatima Jinnah Hospital, Chowk Ghantaghar, Multan. Period: March 2019 to November 2019. Material & Methods: The study comprised of 250 lactating mothers aged 18-40 years. The data for this study was collected by trained nutritionist when lactating mothers came for checkup and SPSS software was used for data analysis. Results: This study showed that mother status mostly effected due to iron deficiency. Only 20% women were having normal Hemoglobin level. 80% women were anemic and 61.6% women were underweight and 4.8% women were overweight during lactation period. Their serum ferritin level was significantly low due to iron deficient diet/ low iron supplementation. In this conducted study 34.4% women were uneducated and 70.8% women were from rural areas of Multan. 42.4% women were poor socioeconomic status. Conclusion: Nutritional status of lactating mother is mostly affected by iron deficiency. Iron deficient diet or lack of iron supplementation due to poor socioeconomic status/ lack of education about nutrients affect the lactating status of mother.