Nutritional Status and Infant Feeding Practices Adopted by Working Women in Jodhpur City

Abstract

A survey was conducted on 200 working women from urban area in
Jodhpur, mainly to assess their health and nutritional status. Majority of the women
reported that working outside home was mainly to improve their living standard.
Thirty seven women were from well-to-do families, 52 from Middle Income Group
(MIG) and I I I were from Low Income Group (LIG). A large family size and
low literacy were found associated with LIG when chi-square test was applied.
A significantly low percentage (P) of women were found discarding colostrums
in well-to-do group (16.1 %) as compared to MIG (56.1 %) and LIG (59.3%). Delayed
supplementation beyond I year was observed for LIG (39.8%), as compared to
MIG (12.1 %) and well-to-do (6.5%) families. Similarly, longer duration of breast
feeding was seen in women of LIG. Well-to-do women opted for commercial food
(55.0%) and had better awareness of supplemental food for infants. while the rest'
opted for traditional food foLsupplementation. A significantly higher percentage
(30.5%) of malnutrition (BMI<I8.5) was seen in LIG (P<0.05) as compared to
women of other two categories. A lower percentage (20.0%) of obesity was seen
in women of LIG. Hypertension was quite low in all the groups. The working
women contributed to the family income for improving the living standard, but
the nutritional status. infant feeding practices and supplementary feeding differed
significantly between the three categories.