THE RELATIONSHIP MOTHER'S KNOWLEDGE OF NUTRITION AND INFANT NUTRITIONAL STATUS AT WARA UTARA KOTA HEALTH CENTER, PALOPO

Abstract

Nutrition is a very important part of the growth and development of babies, nutrition is closely related to health and intelligence. One of the causes of malnutrition is due to a lack of maternal knowledge, where the growth and development of toddlers is greatly influenced by the knowledge and parenting patterns carried out by parents.. Feeding children under five is the most basic form because the nutritional elements contained in food play an important role in the child's growth and development. This study aims to determine the relationship between maternal knowledge about nutrition and the nutritional status of babies at the Wara Utara City Health Center, Palopo City. The research method used was quantitative using a cross sectional study design, the population in the work area was 261 babies, using the Slovin formula the sample in this study was 72 babies. The primary data collection method is direct interviews with respondents using a questionnaire. Data processing uses Microsoft Office Excel and SPSS. The research results showed that the relationship between mother's knowledge about breast milk and the baby's nutritional status was poor (26.9%) and good (89.1%), so that the results of the analysis obtained a p value = 0.000 < ????0.05. Thus, statistically Ha is accepted. The researcher's conclusion that can be put forward is that there is a meaningful relationship. The suggestion is that expectant mothers, pregnant women and mothers with babies are expected to pay more attention to nutrition so that they give birth to healthy babies, both physically and spiritually.