Feeding practices for young Pakistani children: usual diet and diet during diarrhoea

Diarrhoea is among the foremost disorders responsible for high mortality and morbidity in children of third world countries. In addition, improper feeding during diarrhoea leads to a vicious cycle of frequent episodes of diarrhoea and malnutrition in these children. In this study 595 households (200 urban and 395 rural) with 741 children who met the age criteria of 36 months or less were randomly selected for assessing the feeding practices during diarrhoea. Out of these, 276 (37%) were infants and 465 (63%) were toddlers. The majority of both breastfed and non breastfed children were also receiving solids and liquid foods. Animal milk was used by 89% of non-breastfed children. Forty six percent of breastfed and 78% of non-breastfed children were given "Khitchri" (rice cooked with lentils) as a solid diet. During diarrhoeal episodes, most mothers (70%) continued breast feeding their children. Whereas, 53% children also received solid and semi-solid diet which was either "Khitchri" or banana as mentioned by more than half of the respondents. The majority of mothers (97%) considered breast-feeding to be a good practice during childhood diarrhoea.