Family influences on child nutritional outcomes in Nairobi's informal settlements.
Cheikh Mbacké Faye, Sharon Fonn, Elizabeth Kimani-Murage
PMID 30986888WHAT IT FOUND
In Nairobi slums, mothers, grandmothers and fathers described child feeding as shaped by poverty, food insecurity and household advice.
Grandmothers often advised mothers, fathers mainly provided food. Feeding decisions were shared among family members rather than made by mothers alone.
Key findings
01Respondents described poverty, food insecurity and limited access to appropriate child food as major reasons for stunting and as shaping feeding practices.
02Mothers were not the only decision makers on child feeding; grandmothers commonly advised and cared for children, while fathers described their role as providing food rather than feeding decisions.
03Most respondents valued exclusive breastfeeding but found it hard to sustain for 6 months because of work or study, and some stopped due to misconceptions about contraceptives; weaning foods depended on what was available.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample was small and purposive, with 30 interviews, so the findings cannot be generalized. The study did not relate the views of all respondents from the same household. Some mothers of stunted children did not recognize that their child was stunted, which limited probing questions about feeding practices for stunted children. The lack of differences between households of stunted and nonstunted children may be related to the small number of households interviewed.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these findings as proof that targeting grandmothers or fathers will reduce stunting. The study described what families said about feeding decisions. It did not test an intervention or measure nutritional outcomes.