Nutritional Status of the Infants of Employed and Unemployed Mothers

Women play a dual role both at home and at the work place. There is a sustainable increase among women who go out for work due to economic compulsion, soaring price rise, preference for modern living and to utilise the acquired education. In India, one in three of all adult women aged 15-49 are in the workforce and engaged in almost every economic activity. Child rearing continues to be the job of the mother in India and importance of breast-feeding is stressed, all the more, these days. Although many factors are involved, the decline in breast feeding both in developed and developing countries is attributed to the large number of women working outside the home, the availability of large number of infant weaning foods and the lack of nutrition counseling. Hence this research was undertaken to study the association of maternal employment on the feeding practices and the nutritional status of their infants.