본 연구에서는 어머니의 영양 지식과 태도는 영아기 영양관리와 건강에 중요한 인자가 될 수 있다고 사료되어 수유와 이유를 실시하는 어머니를 대상으로 영유아기 섭식에 관한 영양지식 정도와 태도를 측정하였다. 또한 종단적으로 아기의 성장에 맞는 섭식 관리에 대한 영양 교육을 실시한 후 부모의 영양 지식과 태도의 변화 및 이에 다른 수유와 이유 과정의 진행을 체계적으로 분석하여 영유아기의 올바른 섭식 관리의 지침을 제시하는데 도움을 주고자 했다. 이를 위해 임신 후반의 특정 질환이 없는 임신부중 정상적인 재태 기간과 정상 분만을 한 88명의 어머니와 영유아를 대상으로 54명은 교육군, 34명은 대조군으로 분류한 후, 임신 말부터 생후 12개월까지 6회의 영양교육과 5차에 걸친 설문조사로 수행되었다. 본 연구대상자의 일반 사항은 교육군와 대조군에서 차이가 없었다. 즉 영아의 출생시 평균 체중과 신장은 3.32kg과 50.95cm로 한국 소아 신체발육치와 비슷하였으며, 어머니의 평균 연령은 28.8세, 학력은 고졸 35.2%, 대졸 64.5%였다. 직업을 갖고 있는 경우는 교육군 14.5%, 대조군 19.3%로 큰 차이가 없었다. 이유지식은 교육전 10점중 대조군 7.33±0.92점, 교육군 7.54±1.03점이었다. 이유시기에 관해서는 낮은 점수를, 이유식을 먹이는 방법에 있어서는 높은 점수를 나타냈으며 그룹간 차이는 없었다. 반면 교육후에는 10점중 대조군 8.33점, 교육군 9.06점으로 교육군이 대조군에 비해 높았다(p〈0.05). 교육 후 이유태도는 5점중 교육군 3.74±0.36, 대조군 3.52±0.35로 교육군이 바람직한 태도를 보여주었다. 특히, 선식이용과 소금.설탕 이용, 이유식을 조제분유와 섞어 먹이는 것에 대해서는 교육군이 대조군보다 바람직한 태도를 나타내었다(p〈0.05). 이유식 먹이기에 있어서 교육군이 대조군보다 스푼을 이용해서 떠 먹이는 것을 많이 실시하고 있었고 6개월 때 떠먹는 정도 또한 교육군에서 좋았다. 설탕이용 및 시판이유식의 이용은 대조군이 유의적으로 많았다(p〈0.05). 또한 9~12개월 때 이유식 섭취빈도는 시판 우유 및 조제유를 포함한 '우유.유제품'과 '과자류'의 이용에서 대조군이 유의적으로 많이 섭취했다(p〈0.05). 특히 시판우유의 이용이 대조군에서 월등히 많았다(p〈0.01).이상에서와 같이 영양교육에 따른 두 그룹을 비교해본 결과 이유기 영양에 관한 교육에 따른 변화를 볼 수 있었다 특히 교육군에서 이유식을 먹이는 방법, 식품의 선택이 보다 바람직하게 제시되어 어머니를 대상으로 한 영양교육의 실시는 아기의 바람직한 식행동을 유도할 수 있다고 사료된다. 또한 이유식을 통한 다양한 식품의 경험 및 식품 섭취방법 등을 연습하는 과정을 통해 앞으로의 식생활 및 성장 발달에 영향을 미칠 것으로 사료된다. 따라서 영유아의 성장발달에 따른 적절한 영양교육의 실시가 보다 체계적으로 활성화 되어야 하겠으며 이를 위해 실제로 도움이 될 수 있는 구체적인 교육내용, 방법 및 도구의 개발이 요구된다.

This study was executed for 300 mothers bringing up a child below 3 years in the area of Kangnung to assess the current weaning practice of infants. 24.6% of mother surveyed were breast-fed, 57.8% were formula-fed and 17.5% were mixed-fed. The rate of breast feeding was lower and the rate of bottle feeding was higher in infants whose mothers had more income or higher educational period or full-time job. Most of the respondents knew the significance of supplementary food. 41.4% of the subjects started weaning of their infants at 3-4 months, and 84.1% of them set on weaning in less than 7 months after babies were born. And 39.4% of the subjects finished weaning of their infants in less than one year. The infants of this study preferred the fruits and fishes to meats, vegetables and beans that served to them as supplementary food. Mothers showed deep interest in recipe of weaning food(48.5%), adequate quantity of weaning food(36.3%), information on commercial food for infants(32.2%), and sequence in which semi-solid food are introduced(31.9%). From these results, it is suggested that education program in primary health center for improvement of weaning practice of infants should be implemented reflecting needs of mothers.

This study examined the relationship between mothers' consciousness of diet and their infant feeding methods and weaning practices. Consciousness of diet analyzed from 17 questions concerning the attitudes and opinions of diet was classified into 6 categories using the factor analysis. These categories were the faithfulness of diet, the health-directed dietary practices, the application of health information, the application of information about food and nutrition, the sincerity to meal preparation, and dietary habits. The 400 mothers selected randomly from Wonju area were surveyed. The results obtained from the study were summarized as follows. Weaning was implemented earlier by the group with better education career and with the exact knowledge of weaning. Factors associated with infant feeding methods included some sociodemographic characteristics such as birth order, mothers' employment state and income level and mothers' effort toward faithfulness of diet. The use of health-foods and nutrient supplements were prefered by the groups used bottle-feeding method. The health condition of the infants was influenced by mother's will to carry out the health information rather than infant feeding methods and weaning foods used. Mothers who perceived the importance of diet for health and consumed more milk had healthier babies, and their dietary habits were more favorable. The subjects who self-recognized the meaning of weaning and who believed that earlier weaning was good for baby or delayed weaning was the cause of anemia and poor appetite, took advantage of the information about food and nutrition as well as prefered the health-directed dietary practices. Mothers who retried to feed the weaning food rejected by baby before, applied the dietary information to the real meal management more actively and had a more desirable dietary habits. In those cases the baby had improved health condition. Those who were interested in the meaning of weaning and the nutritious effect of weaning foods, revealed significantly higher tendency on the performance of cooking information and the more confidence to the health information from advertisement.

This study was undertaken to determine factors associated with infant feeding practices among highly educated Korean mothers living in Texas, USA and local populations. In both groups, infant's birth order, maternal age, prenatal education, husband's attitude, mother's attitude and infant's taking a bottle to bed were not associated with infant's feeding patterns significantly. However, there was a significant difference in initiating time for introduction of supplementary foods between Koreans and Americans. Thus Korean mothers introduced supplementary foods earlier than American counterparts. Furthermore the infant's feeding method among all participants affected the time for introducing supplementary foods significantly. Though attitude of Korean mothers toward breastfeeding was slightly more positive than that of American mothers, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in Koreans was much lower than that in Americans. It might be suggested that effective nutrition education program for Korean subjects should be developed to practice breastfeeding from positive attitude and knowledge. It might be also suggested that participation of prenatal nutrition education involving fathers should be encouraged for promotion of rates of initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding of mothers.

A study was designed to assess the current status of infant feeding and weaning practice through an retrospective survey on feeding method, a period of weaning and various kinds of weaning food. Analysing a few influential environmental factors while assessing the level of knowledge today's mothers have on infant nutrition. The results are as follows: 1. As random samples for this study, a total of 516 mothers having infants under the age of 3 were surveyed. Among them, 235 were from Seoul and 281 were from Kyongi province (Yongin, Suwon, Bupyong, Poil, Kihung, Ansan(Chungbuk)). 2. Among the infants who fell under the category of normality (Kaup index 15~18), the infants from Seoul area amounted to 60.7%, surpassing the percentage of the infants from Kyongi province, 41.9%. The percentage of the infants belong to a group of under nutrition (Kaup index 〈13) was relatively higher than that of the infants in a group of overnutrition (Kaup index 〉20). 3. 16.1% of mother surveyed were breast-fed, 54.6% were formula-fed and 29.3% were mixed-fed. The result indicated that the percentage of breast-fed infants of high-educated, working mothers were relatively lower than those of low-educated housewives. 4. Most of the respondents knew the significance or the necessity of supplementary food in terms of weaning. 5. 98.8% of those surveyed responded that the mother's adequate knowledge on weaning was necessary. 70.1% of them replied that they wanted to get various and in-depth information in printed materials such as books or other kinds of publications. They, also showed deep interest in recipe of weaning food. 6. The average period when those surveyed began weaning of their infants was 4.3±1.8 months. The tendency of earlier weaning in 3 months was founded among 41.1% of them. About half of the respondents, 52.3%, started weaning of their infants in 4~6 months. In overall, 93.4% of them set on weaning in less than 6 months after babies were born. The survey, in addition, revealed an interesting fact that earlier weaning of infants was shown in the group of high-educated mothers. 7. According to the study, finishing period of weaning was 13.3±5.4 months on average. Only 38.9% of the respondents ended weaning of their infants in 12 months, the proper period recommended by renowned experts. In general, the infants on formula-feeding finished their weaning later than those on breast-feeding (p〈0.05).

This research was conducted to survey the feeding methods of Korean women. The survey was executed for 355 mothers bringing up a child below 24 months in some part of Seoul in Korea from April to May, 1990. Incidence of breast feeding was 29.1% of the interviewed mothers in Seoul, which showed lower percentages than those of previous surveys. This research proved the major influencing factor generally depended on its mother rather than babies or labor condition. For example, the higher income and the higher educational degree of its mothers, they tended to prefer the bottle feeding to the others. Generally mothers knew the informations of infant nutrition very well, 84.5% of the interviewed mothers in Seoul had the opinion of 'breast feeding is better', but their knowledge actually didn't work. The source of mothers‘ informations on the infant nutrition showed the books and magazines, friend and relatives, grandmother were many by the order. But there were some discrepancies between the actual and needed source of information; i.e. mothers in Seoul mostly(44.8%) wanted to acquire their informations from mass communications. The reason of breast feeding showed 'for baby's health' was the greatest, and then 'immunity of breast milk' and 'baby's emotion' were great by the order, and the reason of bottle feeding showed 'not enough breast milk' was the greatest. There were no problems in feeding attitude and position of breast feeding, but there were problems in feeding volume, consistency of formula milk and feeding position of bottle feeding.