Maternal Capabilities And Nutrition Practices In The First 1000 Days Of Life Among Women Of Reproductive Age In Isuikwuato L. G. A, Abia State:- Umeofor, Francisca Oluchukwu

ABSTRACT x The first 1000 days of life are critical for child development, yet maternal capabilities and socioeconomic factors continue to shape nutrition outcomes and persistent malnutrition challenges. The study assessed maternal capabilities, knowledge, attitudes and nutrition practices among pregnant women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in Isuikwuato Local Government Area (LGA). This study employed a community-based cross-sectional design. Six (6) villages were randomly selected in the Local Government Area (LGA) representing 75% ofthe total villages in the area. Using quota sampling, 186 consenting women ofreproductive age (WRA) were recruited from the households across the six villages. With the use ofsemistructured questionnaires, data on background data, socioeconomic data, knowledge, attitudes on nutrition practice and maternal capabilities were collected. Descriptive statistics using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation was used to analyze the data, while Pearson’s correlation analysis was employed to examine relationships between maternal capabilities and infant feeding practices, with significance level at p < 0.05. The IBM-SPSS statistics version 26.0 was used to analyse the data. About 50.5% ofthe pregnant WRA were aged 25-29 years, 15.6% aged 20-24 years while 33.9% aged 30-35 years. Majority of the pregnant WRA had tertiary education (83.9%), secondary education (15.6%) and no formal education (0.5%). The pregnant WRA were unemployed (13.4%), self-employed (51.1%), government employed (22.0%). Some ofthe pregnant WRA (83.3%) earned >N71,000, less (12.9%) earned N51,000 - N70,000 while little (3.8%) earned