Background: Dietary diversity is a qualitative measure of food consumption that reflects household access to a variety of foods and is also a proxy for nutrient adequacy of diet of individual. Breast-feeding and complementary feeding practices are fundamental to children's survival and development. Feeding practices have an impact on physical growth, which is one of the best indicators of children's well-being. However, the relation between the quality of feeding practices during early age and nutritional status are difficult to establish, and, depending on the context and overall living conditions, the influence of feeding factors on children's nutritional status can vary considerably. This study helps us to assess the dietary diversity score by simple food count method which is a good indicator of adequate micronutrient intake. Methods: The study was a retrospective study conducted on babies between 6 months to 23 months of age presenting in Paediatric outpatient Department. Data was collected by 24-hour recall method for 3 days and an average. Results: 30% of subjects had weight for age below 2 SD and 8% had length for age below 2 SD. Dietary diversity Score of 1and 6 in 8%, 2 in 48%, 3 and 5 in 6%, 4 in 24% was noted. The average scoring was low among 6-9 and10-12 months and it increased between 13-23 months. With increase in age there was increase in dietary diversity score and vice versa. Conclusions: Limited diversity in complementary foods is a strong predictor of the nutritional status of children. Inclusion of a variety of food groups may be more essential to improve child's nutritional status.

Background and Aims: Diabetes has been reported to be a risk factor for sleep disturbances in adolescent age groups. Although the impact of type1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) on sleep patterns of children is well recognized, data about its prevalence is scant. This study aims to determine the quality of sleep among adolescents with T1DM and factors inuencing it. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study collected data from 30 adolescent diagnosed with T1DM at least 6 months earlier. They presented to Paediatric endocrine OPD from May 2021 to May 2022. Subjects were asked to complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) 19-item self-report questionnaire. Children with T1DM being under treatment for sleep disorder were excluded. The combined score of the 7 components (subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efciency, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medication, and daytime dysfunction) was used for analysis and the score ranged from 0 to 21. Atotal score >5 was considered as “poor sleep quality”. The quality of sleep was correlated with drug, dietary compliance and metabolic control. p-value <0.05 was considered signicant. Results: The mean age of study population was 14.3±1.7 years. 18 were boys and 12 were girls. Total 8 patients showed poor sleep quality (PQSI score >5). No signicant relationship was found between sleep quality, duration of diabetes and HbA1c levels in the diabetes group (P= 0.59, P= 0.41, respectively). The total sleep time of boys (8.4 ± 1.2 h) was longer than girls (7.6 ± 1.7 h), but the overall total sleep time per night did not differ signicantly between boys and girls (P= 0.053). Conclusion: The present study shows that diabetes control may affect sleep quality in adolescents. Optimal diabetes management can positively affect sleep patterns in these adolescents. Further larger studies are needed to validate our results

Background: Accidental poisoning is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Poisoning is one of the medical emergencies encountered in the emergency department. Accidental poisoning is common in toddlers and pre-school children. Aim of this study was to determine the agents of poisoning and demographic distribution of children brought to Rajarajeswari Medical College and Hospital with a history of accidental poisoning.Methods: The study method was descripitive study done in pediatric department at Rajarajeswari Medical College and Hospital for 18 months, from 1 December 2017 to 31 May 2019. 25 cases were of accidental poisoning. Data was analysed by statistical analysis.Results: The prevalence of accidental poisoning was 0.1%. There was male preponderance, 16 cases were male (64%) and 9 were female (36%), hydrocarbon (40%) was the most common household agent causing poisoning, followed by pyrethroid (24%), followed by NSAID’S (8%). Most common symptom was vomiting. The mean time elapsed to reach hospital was 97.80 minutes. In majority of the cases, hospital stay was for 2 days in (13 cases (52%)).Conclusions: Children become victims of accidental poisoning. Most common agents of poisoning are household products and medications.

Background: Breastfeeding is common in developing countries, but exclusive breastfeeding is rare, and complementary foods are introduced to babies at an early age. Despite the proven risks associated with not exclusively breastfeeding, few mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies for six months as recommended by the World Health Organization. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of breast-feeding promotion interventions on baby weight at three months of age.Methods: A randomized experimental study was conducted for a period of 6 months from February 2019 till July 2019 in a tertiary care hospital. Weight- for-age (WA) indices have been determined for 95 infants from three to four months of age, participating in this study. They included 49 that started received promotion interventions support after delivery (till 2 weeks) and 46 that received routine care (control group). Collected data were analysed using SPSS software ver.11.5.Results: Weight-for-age indices were significantly lower for the early group than the control group (p=0.012). They suggest that the breast-feeding promotion interventions are very important educational tools to ensure healthy weight gain in infants.Conclusions: There is evidence that breastfeeding for at least 6 months, compared with feeding formula, prevents the possibility of atopic dermatitis, cow’s milk allergy and early childhood wheezing. Poorer nutritional status was significantly associated with earlier complementary feeding. The results suggest that exclusive breastfeeding along with promotion of weaning education should be promoted in India.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the clinical profile of neonates admitted with dehydration fever and ascertain the maternal and neonatal factors affecting it.Methods: A observational descriptive study was conducted at Rajarajeswari Medical College and hospital, population included neonates who were admitted in NICU with dehydration fever.Results: The study were conducted among 50 neonates admitted with dehydration fever. Majority of neonates (72%) were diagnosed with dehydration fever on day 3 of life. 84 % neonates were born to primiparous mothers. In the study there was significant difference in mean birth weight, weight at admission and percentage of weight loss between birth weight and weight at admission with respect to symptoms on presentation. Mean % of weight loss was 12.06 when dehydration fever was presented with fever, 11.29 when dehydration fever presented with decreased urine output, 18.44 when presented with both fever and decreased urine output and 12.73 when presented with jaundice these values were statistically significant.Conclusions: Dehydration fever occurs most commonly on day 3 or after, effective measures should be initiated for early diagnosis and prevention of complications like effective breast-feeding counselling, proper techniques, good latching and supplementation of artificial feeds if required and monitoring of daily weight and daily urine output.