A cross sectional study to access infant feeding practices among care givers in an urban colony of North India

Malnutrition has lifelong and irreversible effects, especially when it occurs in the early stages of infancy. Complementary feeding was characterized by early introduction of age-inappropriate feeds and inadequate feeding. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the direct and interacting relations of parenting styles, feeding styles, and feeding practices to infants. Growth faltering and nutritional deficiencies continue to be highly prevalent in infants and young children living in low- and middle-income countries. There is increasing recognition that feeding behaviors and styles, particularly Responsive Feeding (RF), could influence acceptance of food and dietary intake This study presents the evolution of RF research and the strength of the evidence for RF on child feeding practices. In total, 100 caregivers were identified to be interviewed for the study purpose. The study examined Infants between the age group of 1–3 years of age. Certain variables were undertaken to analysis the background of the caregivers as Education, Occupation, Income, Class strata and comparison of all of the above mentioned variables was conducted. Overall, few studies have demonstrated a positive association between RF and child undernutrition, although there is promising evidence that positive caregiver verbalizations during feeding increase child acceptance of food.