The Philippines’ snapshot situation of pregnancy-related and child feeding practices during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background Maternal, infant and young child health and nutrition are affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aim This study aimed to present the snapshot situation of maternal health practices of pregnant women including infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices of children under two during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A rapid nutrition assessment survey (RNAS) was conducted through phone interview in nine selected areas from November 3 to December 3, 2020. A multi-stage sampling design was employed in the selection of areas with low, medium, and high risk categories across the islands of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in the Philippines. A total of 792 mother-child pairs, and 148 pregnant women were covered. Results Majority (84.5%) of pregnant women availed pre-natal check-ups, 82.4% of them had micronutrient supplements, of which 20.5% took IFA tablets. Almost 60.0% of children under two were currently breastfed during the pandemic, with 60.8% of infants less than 6 months receiving breastmilk exclusively. Appropriate complementary feeding practices based on this study were not drastically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, access to pregnancy-related information, along with breastfeeding and complementary feeding messages and advice were disrupted during the community lockdown. Conclusion Although maternal and child feeding practices were unchanged, innovative delivery of community health and nutrition services such as tele-visits by midwives, and community health workers are some of the ways to move forward in improving the health and nutrition of women and children in the wake of the pandemic and during subsequent waves.

Perinatal care and breastfeeding education during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Perspectives from Kenyan mothers and healthcare workers

“…First, early in the pandemic, many institutions separated mothers with confirmed or presumed COVID‐19 infection from their newborns and disallowed BF to protect infants from infection (Graham et al, 2020 ; Rao et al, 2021 ; Tomori et al, 2020 ). Second, despite little evidence to indicate vertical SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission via human milk or BF (Dashraath et al, 2020 ; Pace et al, 2020 ; Thanigainathan et al, 2021 ), early health system communication about the potential risk of maternal‐child SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission through human milk created ambiguous and contradictory messaging (Angeles‐Agdeppa, 2022 ; Lubbe et al, 2020 ; Stuebe et al, 2020 ). For example, while BF was encouraged by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020 ) for infants whose mothers were infected with COVID‐19, provided that standard respiratory and hand hygiene practices were met, there was initially no consistent agreement regarding skin‐to‐skin care and rooming‐in after delivery (Obeidat et al, 2020 ; Stuebe, 2020 ).…”