Knowledge about child nutrition among mothers of children with cerebral palsy

Introduction: Nutrition and disability are intimately related. Both are global developmental priorities and for both the elimination of malnutrition with ensuring the health and well-being of children with disabilities can only be addressed by also tackling issues of poverty, stigma and discrimination toward a child with disability. Objective: To assess the knowledge of mothers about nutrition of their children with cerebral palsy (CP). Materials and Methods: This cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among 100 mother having children with cerebral palsy aged between 6 to 60 months. Face to face interviews were done to collect data using semi structured questionnaire containing both open ended and close ended questions. Results: Among the 100 children with cerebral palsy, 56% were boys and 44% were girls. Seventy seven percent of cases were underweight, while eighteen percent were within the normal weight and five percent were overweight and highest forty percent of them age in between 45 to 60 months of age. Among 100 mothers, seventy three percent in between 21 to 30 years of age and the rest of other above 30 years of age. Majority of the respondents (seventy five percent) are currently giving only normal diet including soft/mashed foods like infant’s formula milk, dairy milk, Rice, Suji, infant’s formula cereals etc. except homemade energy density foods to their children, while 19% are giving homemade energy density foods with complementary foods and the rest 6% are giving only breast milk. However among low literacy mothers, 100% of the children were underweight whereas it was 66% among high literacy mothers. Meanwhile, high literacy mothers had 18% normal weight child but low literacy mothers had no normal weight child. Duncan Multiple Comparison Test (DMRT) showed that except class 1-9, all mothers who passed at least SSC level have same nutritional knowledge. Conclusion: Study finding focuses low literacy mothers have less knowledge about food value of complementary foods. However, knowledge about nutrition among mothers with CP is directly related with education