An appropriate diet is necessary in the growth and health status of children especially in the first two years of life. This study determined the feeding and weaning practices among mothers of children below the age of five years in two selected Primary Healthcare Centres in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study design was descriptive and cross sectional using an interviewer-administered questionnaire, 200 mothers who were purposely selected participated in the study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for data analysis. Findings from the study revealed that the main practice of feeding of infants was breastfeeding, the majority of the mothers started to wean their children at about 6 – 7 months. Also, the major type of weaning practiced by mothers was abrupt weaning, majority of the mothers had good knowledge of feeding and weaning including how beneficial exclusive breastfeeding is, though it is just a few of them that practice exclusive breastfeeding. Therefore, complementary feeding education that will involve the use of various media most especially the primary health facilities is paramount for optimal health of infants. Also teaching should focus on the type of weaning and mothers should be educated on the consequences of abruptly weaning a child.

The goal of this study was to develop bread and biscuit from mixture of wheat and pigeon pea flours and examine the nutritional quality of the two products. The composite flour blend was formulated using wheat and pigeon pea flours in ratio 90:10, 80:20 and 70:30 (wheat: pigeon pea). The samples produced were designated as PWB1, PWB2 and PWB3 for bread while for biscuit the designations were PWb1, PWb2 and PWb3 respectively. For the control samples 100% of wheat flour was used and the samples were designated as PWB0 for bread and PWb0 for biscuit. Samples were analyzed for proximate, minerals and vitamins content using standard analytical procedures of AOAC. Mean data were compared using ANOVA at P< 0.05. The Crude protein (CP), Fat and Ash content of PWB0 (%) were; 10.19, 2.26 and 1.91, respectively. PWBI, PWB2 and PWB3 ranged from 11.69-14.21 CP, 2.82-3.69 fat and 2.09-2.62 ash. PWb1, PWb2 and PWb3 ranged from 14.40-16.19 CP, 8.02-8.15 fat and 1.53-2.01 ash. The proximate composition of bread and biscuit made from composite flour improved significantly at 70:30 formulation (P=.05) compare to the control. The calcium, potassium and zinc content of PWB0 (mg/100 g) were; 54.95, 261.70 and 0.30 respectively. PWBI, PWB2 and PWB3 ranged from 75.50-116.30, 276.05-351.40 and 0.37-0.43. PWb0, PWb1, PWb2 and PWb3 also followed similar trend. Similarly, there was significant increase in β-carotene, thiamine, and riboflavin as the levels of pigeon pea flour increased. Addition of pigeon pea flour to wheat flour clearly enhanced the nutritional composition of the two products except for the reduction in iron and iodine content.