Maternal Nutrition And Child Health

Abstract: The nutritional status of the pregnant women is being recognized as one of the most important factors in the development of a baby, both pre and postnatally. Malnutrition can cause sterility, spontaneous aborption, stillbirth, premature birth, deformities and mental retardation. Statistics from many sources, such as European clinics during WWII and current figures from hospital observations all over the country, have been collected and compiled to provide information on prenatal and early childhood development in relation to nutrition in three ways--physiologically, neurologically, and behaviorally. Low birth weight is the measurement most closely associated with the incidence of neonatal disorders, and is shown to be closely related also to maternal nutrition. Reproductive casualties, particularly in regard to handicapped children, can be greatly decreased by better education and nourishment of expectant mothers.