ABSTRACT

Maternal capabilities have a profound influence on nutritional practices, which in turn significantly influence the health outcomes of both mothers and their infants. The study assessed maternal capabilities and nutrition practices in the first 1000 days among women of reproductive age (15–49 years) in Umuahia South Local Government Area (LGA). This study employed a community-based cross-sectional design. The Local Government Area (LGA) was divided into urban and rural strata, with three communities selected from each. Using systematic sampling, 186 consenting women of reproductive age (WRA) were recruited from households across the six communities. Data on socioeconomic, knowledge, attitude on nutrition practices and maternal capabilities were collected using semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation was using to analyze the data, while regression analysis was used to analyze the influence of socioeconomic variables on knowledge, attitude and maternal capabilities, with statistically significant at p < 0.05. The IBM-SPSS statistics version 26 was used to analyze the data. About 33.9% of the WRA were aged 30–35 years, while 31.7% were aged 25–29 years. Some of the WRA had tertiary education (70.4%), secondary education (14.5%), and primary education (7.5%). The WRA were unemployed (23.7%) and business/traders (24.7%). Less than half (41.9%) of the WRA earned < N30,000, 25.8% earned N30,000 – N50,000, while 12.4% of the WRA earned N71,000 – N90,000.  Much (78.3%) WRA had greater decision-making autonomy, while some had restrictive gender-norm attitude (55.9%), low level of social support (90.3%), low self-efficacy (92.8%), and low depressive symptoms (62.7%).About (59.0%) of WRA had good Knowledge of Infant and Young Child Feeding practices (IYCF) while (41%) had poor knowledge. Some of the WRA had positive attitude (62.7%) and negative attitude (37.3%) towards IYCF. Unemployment and higher income were strongly linked to maternal capabilities, while negative attitude towards infant young child feeding influenced self-efficacy. Maternal capabilities, particularly decision-making autonomy, social support, and mental health, significantly influence nutrition practices in the first 1000 days of life.