Abstract: Objectives: There is scarcity of data on malnutrition among children in Jordan. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the nutritional status and estimate the prevalence rates of stunting, underweight, and wasting and their associated factors among children under five.

Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January and April 2017 among children under five years in Amman, Jordan. All Jordanian children under five years who visited the selected health centers for vaccination or accompanied their mothers during the study period were included in this study. Mothers or caregivers of children were interviewed face-to face using the study questionnaire. Weight in kilograms and height in centimeters were measured for all children. Anthropometric indices were calculated using reference medians recommended by the World Health Organization.

Results: This study included a total of 923 (463 boys and 460 girls) children. The prevalence rates of stunting, underweight, and wasting were 6.2%, 3.8%, and 2.8%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that low birth weight was significantly associated with stunting (OR = 2.9, 95% CI: 1.4,6.0; p-value=0.003) and underweight (OR =5.6, 95% CI: 2.5,12.3, p-value <0.001). Compared to exclusive breastfeeding, mixed feeding was associated with increased odds of stunting (OR =2, 95% CI: 1.1-3.9, p-value =0.029) and underweight (OR = 2.2, 95% CI: 1.002, 5.0; p = 0.049). None of the variables were significantly associated with wasting.

Conclusions: The prevalence rates of stunting, wasting and undernutrition among children under five years in Jordan are low. Low birth weight and mixed feeding were associated with higher rates of malnutrition.

Keywords: Malnutrition, stunting, wasting, undernutrition.

Abstract: Background: The infancy is a time of phenomenal growth and development. Infant of working mothers have a special concern as they have less time for their infant care.

Objective: The present study aims to assess length, weight and BMI of Jordanian infants in nursery in reference to WHO growth chart standard for age Z-score and to study the impact of mothers’ work on their infant’s growth.

Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on 92 infants aged between 3-12 months randomly and recruited from nurseries in Amman, Jordan. All selected infants their mothers are employed and working for at least 8 hour per day. The participants were divided according to gender (male; female) and age group as the following: 3-6 months; 7-9 months; and 10-12 months.

Results:The prevalence of overweight or obesity was 15.2% in all studied infants. Overweight or obesity was more prevalent among female infants aged 3-6 months and among male infants aged 7-12 months. No infant (0.00%) regardless of gender or age group was underweight, stunting nor wasting per WHO standards of BMI for age z-score.

Conclusion:Most infants of Jordanian working mothers seemingly have normal growth in weight and length and few of them were overweight or obese according to WHO standard of BMI for age z-score. These indicated that Jordan work polices support working mothers and their infants to have better health and development.

Keywords: Infant anthropometry, working mothers, nursery, z-score, overweight, obesity.