| dc.description.abstract | Indonesia is currently facing a serious nutritional problem, characterized by a high prevalence of undernutrition and malnutrition among children under five years old. According to the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey (SKI), the prevalence of nutritional status based on weight-for-age (BB/U) in children aged 0–59 months shows that three percent are classified as severely underweight and (12.9%) as underweight. This study aims to analyze the relationship between maternal knowledge and the history of exclusive breastfeeding with the nutritional status of infants aged 7–11 months in Binjai City.This research employed a quantitative method with a cross-sectional approach. The sample consisted of 150 mothers with infants aged 7–11 months, selected using proportionate stratified random sampling. Data were collected through questionnaires and anthropometric measurements, then analyzed using the Chi-Square test. The results showed that (46,7%) of the infants had good nutritional status, while the remaining (53,3%) had poor nutritional status. The majority of mothers (51.3%) had low levels of knowledge, while only (48.7%) had good knowledge. Bivariate analysis revealed a significant relationship between maternal knowledge (p-value = 0.0001) and the history of exclusive breastfeeding (p-value = 0.0001) with the nutritional status of infants aged 7–11 months in Binjai City. Mothers with poor knowledge were more likely to have infants with poor nutritional status (37,3%) compared to mothers with good knowledge, whose infants had good nutritional status (32,7%). Good maternal knowledge and exclusive breastfeeding play a crucial role in improving infants' nutritional status. | en_US |
