Abstract

Some factors that cause malnutrition in 1-2-year-old children are inadequate provisions of complementary food and early/late weaning. Appropriate complementary feeding from the age of 6 months and breastfeeding until at least the age of 2 years is considered the best feeding pattern for a child’s growth and development. Education and the right food choices are needed to fulfill children’s nutritional needs in this period to prevent malnutrition which can lead to stunting. This research was conducted on 52 mothers with 1-2 years old children using a quasi- experimental design by counseling and providing premix cookies that were produced using mung bean (Vigna radiata l) as an intervention for 3 months. Data were analyzed using the Chi- Square correlation test and T-test. This research objective was to determine the effectiveness of counseling and premix cookies as a complementary food to prevent stunting. The result shows that premix cookies were 82.14% effective in increasing the children’s body weight and achieving good nutritional status, therefore preventing the incidence of stunting. This condition was also supported by the improvement of their mothers’ knowledge and attitude (p = 0.011) in their concern about complementary feeding. Consuming the given premix cookies can fulfill children’s nutritional needs: 27.69% protein, 56.59% fat, 24.04% carbohydrates and 56.89% energy. These findings conclude that mung bean premix cookies are considered effective as a complementary food in reducing the incidence of stunting.

Keywords: Stunting, complementary food, weaning, nutrition, mung bean, malnutrition

Graphical Abstract