Amna Iqtidar, Farida Rehman, Ayesha Arif.
Knowledge of mothers regarding nutritional care of child having cerebral palsy.
Pak Paed J Jan ;35(4):205-8.

Introduction: Cerebral Palsy(CP) is a term encompassing a group of non progressive ,conditions of motor and posture that can cause disability due to insult to a developing brain up to three years of life. Proper nutrition is necessary to maintain the physical health and to decrease the morbidity of child. The study was carried out to determine the knowledge of mothers regarding nutritional care of a CP child and the effects of this lack of knowledge on child’s health. Material and Methods: In order to assess the growth parameters and nutritional status of children with CP, a questionnaire was administered to the mothers of 50 children who had presented to the department suffering with CP. Results: Only 2% of mothers had complete awareness of the disease. 56% mothers knew the importance of extra nutritional care as compared to other siblings. 44% mothers knew the importance of supplement intakes. 58% mothers maintained oral hygiene and only 8% mothers knew about oral stimulation exercises. 48% mothers thought that their child was not gaining adequate weight. Proper growth monitoring was done only in 42% of cases. In 64% of cases only liquid and semi solid food was given with maximum frequency of meals remained four times per day and major method of feeding was by mouth (94%). Major causes of hospital admissions were aspiration pneumonia, gastroenteritis and seizures with maximum frequency of hospitalization being monthly to half yearly and 78% fathers had good behavior towards their child. Most of the mothers were found to be suffering from severe depression due to the illness of their child and behavior of family members towards the diseased child and mothers. Conclusion: Mothers do not have sufficient knowledge regarding nutritional care of child. Illiteracy, poor quality of mother’s psychological and physical health and lacunae in our health education system are responsible for this lack of knowledge.

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