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The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship between parental child feeding practices with growth status of Orang Asli (OA) children in Negeri Sembilan.

This is a cross-sectional study conducted amongst 190 OA children aged 4–6 years studying at Tabika KEMAS OA in Negeri Sembilan. Mothers were interviewed to obtain socio-demographic information while feeding practices were assessed using Malay version of Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ-M). Growth status of the children were determined using WHO ANTHRO Plus software. Three indicators of growth status assessed were weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ) and body mass index (BMI)-for-age (BAZ) z-scores.

The mean score for feeding practices used by the mothers while feeding their child showed that most of the mothers practiced modelling (3.71 ± 0.82), encouraging balance and variety (3.52 ± 0.76) and environment (3.66 ± 0.66) while the practice of restriction to weight (1.85 ± 0.79) and emotional regulation (2.20 ± 0.96) were low. Most of the OA children had normal WAZ (70.0%), HAZ (71.1%) and BAZ (84.2%). Amongst the three indicators of growth status, BAZ was used to study the relationship with feeding practices. The use of feeding practices such as pressure (r = −0.34, p < 0.01), food as a reward (r = −0.23, p=<0.01), child control (r = −0.18, p = 0.01) and restriction to weight (r = 0.19, p = 0.01) were associated with BAZ.

This study only focussed on OA children of Temuan and Semelai sub-ethnics studying at kindergarten specific for OA children, thus findings could not be generalised to the entire OA population in Malaysia.

There is a need to address the OA population as they continue to be amongst the most disadvantaged population often affected with poor health and social outcomes.

In this study, a wide range of scales in that represents different feeding practices in CFPQ-M was assessed instead of focussing on limited type of feeding practices. Thus, a better understanding was observed regarding the healthy and unhealthy feeding practices. The result of this study could be useful to update the existing literature of OA research, and to plan suitable interventions with regards to feeding practices and growth status of the children, especially amongst this vulnerable community.

Stunting and being underweight in children are major nutritional problems especially in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of egg supplementation on a vitamin and mineral fortification program for growth, cognitive development and hemoglobin in underweight and stunted children.

This was an experimental study using a crossover design conducted in Yogyakarta province, Indonesia. A total of 39 subjects were randomly selected from two community health centers and provided with two types of intervention: vitamin and mineral fortification sprinkle (Taburia) and Taburia with egg supplementation (Taburia PLUS). Each intervention was conducted for three months with one-month of washout period in between interventions.

There were no changes in weight-for-age Z-score in Taburia and Taburia PLUS (all p > 0.05). The height-for-age Z-score was increased in Taburia PLUS (p = 0.022) but not in Taburia (p > 0.05). Hemoglobin level was significantly increased in Taburia (p = 0.039) but not in Taburia PLUS (p > 0.05). There were no significant changes in visual motoric score in Taburia, but there were slight increases in Taburia PLUS (all p > 0.05).

The authors concluded that egg supplementation combined with multivitamins and minerals fortification program, Taburia PLUS, is beneficial to improve linear growth but not hemoglobin in stunted and underweight children.

Childcare is an essential part of early life environment that has a significant influence on lifelong physical and mental health. This study aimed to examine the relationship between development, growth and frequency of illness in different types of care.

This cross-sectional study recruited 177 children aged 30–36 months and their caregivers. Of these 66 were being cared for at home and 111 were attending out-of-home day-care facilities. An interview form, growth measurement and the Denver Developmental Screening Test II were collected. The association between child developmental, growth and illness variables was analyzed with Chi-square, Fisher's exact and Mann–Whitney U tests.

This study found that the development and growth results did not show statistically significant differences between the home-care and day-care groups. The number of minor illnesses was significantly lower in home-care children than in day-care children (OR = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.15-0.72).

This study indicated that the risk of infection is increased in the children attending day care. Provision of a healthy and safe childcare environment needs to be an essential health promotion strategy to improve family and child well-being.

As the number of women's participation in the labor market has increased rapidly over the past decades, so did the number of children in nonparental care. The study findings reflect that the development of a day-care center for children was unclear, whereas the risk of infection was increased. Therefore, provision of a healthy and safe childcare environment needs to be an essential health promotion strategy to improve family and child well-being.

The role of care as a critical influence on child nutrition, health, and development has received increasing attention in the last decade. While the role of care has been well elaborated at a conceptual level, we still lack simple valid and reliable tools to measure many aspects of care. Psychosocial care includes the behaviors and practices that support children's healthy growth and psychosocial development. The research presented here constitutes one of the first attempts to quantify some of the various dimensions of child‐care practices (namely type, quality, and frequency) and to summarize the information into a composite, age‐specific index of child‐care practices. The main purpose of this research is to examine, specifically within the context of Pakistan, which of the maternal and household characteristics constituted more severe constraints to the provision of good child care. The main findings of this research have important policy implications. They suggest that specific training in child feeding and the use of preventive health services for poor mothers with little formal education could have a large impact on the growth of children living in impoverished environments.

This paper aims to determine the knowledge that staff in day nurseries in Brazil had of basic measures to promote child health which are connected with high child mortality. These measures included breastfeeding, oral rehydration therapy, child growth follow‐up, immunization and the identification of signs that indicate that the child must be referred to a health facility.

A cross‐sectional study was performed in day nurseries in the state of Bahia, Brazil, involving 194 care staff from 77 different establishments. Questionnaires, the observation of practical exercises and documentary evidence were used to assess knowledge.

Seventeen percent of professionals were able to use growth charts correctly, 37.1 percent were able to prepare an oral rehydration solution adequately, 77.8 percent were able to provide appropriate breastfeeding counseling, 65.0 percent were able to identify children who showed respiratory danger signs and refer them to a health facility, and 58.5 percent were able to check the immunization status. This suggests a serious lack of basic knowledge in key areas.

The losses observed in the beginning of the study and the possibility of the existence of memory bias related to the verbal information obtained might have influenced the results.

These findings suggest that there is an urgent need to address the lack of knowledge about basic child health measures shown by these key workers through appropriate educational programs.

This is one of the first studies of levels of knowledge about basic child health measures in professionals who work outside the medical profession, and in particular in day nurseries. It also provides valuable information about health knowledge in a developing country.

It is generally believed that children’s advertising exposure decreases life satisfaction. This paper aims to investigate whether and how it does by examining the relation between advertising exposure and life satisfaction (Aim 1), as well as the mediating roles of psychological wellbeing (Aim 2) and its underlying dimensions (Aim 3).

Three-wave panel data were collected among 1,133 8-12-year-olds. Psychological wellbeing was measured overall and per dimension (i.e. environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, self-acceptance, autonomy and positive relationships with others).

The authors found a nonsignificant total effect of advertising exposure at Wave 1 on life satisfaction at Wave 3: The negative direct effect was annulled by the positive indirect effect via overall psychological wellbeing at Wave 2. Detailed analysis revealed that personal growth and autonomy functioned as positive mediators, and purpose in life as a negative mediator in the relation between advertising exposure and life satisfaction.

This research informs the ethical debate surrounding child-directed advertising, showing it might stimulate children’s sense of control over their environment, openness to new experiences, direction in life and sense of self-agency.

This study is the first to examine advertising’s effect on life satisfaction and psychological wellbeing simultaneously. The study used a large sample and a longitudinal panel design, allowing conclusions about the specific effects of advertising exposure.

The purpose of this paper is a single-center six-month follow-up study to determine nutritional status of children with maple syrup urine disease (MSUD). Prolonged restriction on essential amino acid could cause malnutrition. By far, there is no study reported in the context of nutritional status among children with maple syrup urine disease (MSUD), who required life-long protein restriction.

A total of 22 children with MSUD, aged from 1 to 12 years (6.54 ± 3.27) undergoing regular treatment in Institute of Pediatrics, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, were recruited. Body height, weight and head circumference were measured for anthropometry, whereas total protein, albumin and plasma branched-chain amino acid were measured for biochemical aspects. Clinical features diagnosed by pediatrician were recorded from children’s medical record. The 24-hour dietary recall was conducted to measure their nutrients intake. All assessments were repeated at six-month interval except clinical profile.

There were no significant differences in all nutritional parameters from baseline to end of the visit. There was a prominence (particular noticeable of) of growth stunting (68; 64 per cent), undernutrition (35; 32 per cent) and microcephalic (57; 57 per cent) among children with MSUD. Nevertheless, children showed no significant improvement of anthropometric variables from baseline and after 6-month follow-up visit. Nearly all biochemical indicators were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the reference value except valine. Intellectual disability was the most frequently (71 per cent) presenting symptoms among them. The finding also did not show any macro- or micronutrients fail to achieve above recommended nutrient intake in both visits. In conclusion, it is clear that no significant nutritional deficiency was induced by the use of MSUD dietary therapy; however, the findings indicated that MSUD children are at risk of malnutrition and regular nutritional assessment and monitoring should always be emphasized for optimal linear growth without affecting their amino acid profiles.

Multiple 24-hour recalls instead of single 24-hour recall should be used in this study for a better estimate of intake.

Although there are retrospective studies targeted in presenting the clinical and biochemical profile of MSUD children which has been extensively examined, limited research has focused on prospective aspect of nutritional status of these children who are undergoing active and regular diet and medical nutrition therapy because of the absence of comprehensive reliable nutritional assessment data.

Child mortality has been a problem in developing countries for many years. This article summarizes the factors that were identified as contributing to the sustainability of a community‐based growth‐monitoring program for the prevention of child mortality in Honduras. The program used community volunteers to measure children's growth from birth until they reached two years of age. Honduras received support from the USAID to implement the program. The authors conducted an evaluation of the program that included responses from 32 health care workers, 45 weight monitors, 96 participating mothers and 32 non‐participating mothers. Individual, community, environmental and institutional factors that contribute to the sustainability of the program are summarized. The implications for program replication are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to assess nutritional status among children with extra-hepatic portal vein obstruction (EHPVO).

Forty six children with documented EHPVO with age and sex matched siblings and controls were selected from the Department of Gastroenterology, Sawai Man Singh Hospital, Jaipur. Nutritional assessment was done by anthropometry and dietary recall method (24-h dietary recall method). Height for age and BMI for age were compared with WHO standards.

An equal percentage of EHPVO patients, siblings and controls (4.34 percent) were stunted. Nearly 23.9 percent EHPVO patients and their siblings and 30.4 percent of controls were severely wasted. Similar proportion of subjects had MAMA<5th percentile. Dietary intake was similar between the study groups. Growth velocity was similar among the groups after one-year follow-up.

Data from India regarding EHPVO are very scarce from India. One study from Sarin et al. in 1992 reported EHPVO-affected children to be growth retarded. The present study, in contradiction to this study postulates that the affected children may not be growth retarded because of the disease but heredity and environmental factors may play a role.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the determinants of malnutrition of primary school‐age (five to ten years) children in urban and slum areas. The ultimate objective is to frame policy proposals for children's nutritional welfare.

In this empirical study, logit model is applied to 882 observations of primary data. The composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF) is constructed to use an indicator of malnutrition.

The probability for anthropometric failure increases by age, birth‐order, female sex and activity of the child (child labor or home‐care activity) other than schooling. The parents' education, specifically mothers' education, can play an important role for child's nutritional status. Malnutrition is positively related with congestion in the household (number of household members per room), while provision of electricity, safe drinking water and underground drainage turns out to be negatively affecting children's malnutrition. The children living in slums are more likely to experience anthropometric failure.

From the policy perspective awareness about gender equity of child, adult education, growth of household income specifically of slum areas and improvement in living conditions (through public health works program) may contribute to enhance children's nutritional status.

The slums need targeted policy for children welfare regarding their nutrition in the form of provision of public utilities and income support.

From the methodological point of view, CIAF has been estimated as a measure of malnutrition. The findings of study may support academicians, policy makers and social activists for human development programs.