International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Int J Prev Med)2008-7802962018070719271927ENBangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation, Mohakhali, DhakaCommunicable Disease Control (CDC), DGHS, Mohakhali, DhakaHospital Service Management, DGHS, Mohakhali, DhakaTB/HIV Control Program, BRAC, BRAC Centre, Mohakhali, DhakaAichi Medical College and Hospital, DhakaAssociates for Community and Population Research, Dhaka20180704<p><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Background</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle2">Undernutrition is common and has been recognized as a public health problem in Bangladesh. It has devastating effects on any population as it increases morbidity children and reduces the quality of life of all affected. The study was done with the objective to assess the undernutrition and morbidity profle in children who have completed exclusive breastfeeding. </span></p><p><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Methods</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle2">This was a descriptive cross‑sectional study, which was carried out among children aged 6&ndash;12 completed months attending a tertiary level hospital in Bangladesh. A total of 251 children were selected through convenient sampling from January to December 2015. Nutritional assessment was done in terms of underweight, stunting, and wasting. </span></p><p><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Results</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle2">One hundred and forty‑three (57.0%) were boys while 108 (43.0%) were girls. The prevalence of undernutrition (Z‑score &le;-2) was observed in 11.2%, 16.3%, and 12.0% based on stunting, underweight, and wasting. Among 251 children, 16.7% were not suffering any diseases, whereas majorities (69.7%) were suffering from single disease and 13.5% were suffering from multiple diseases. Cough and fever (55.0%), pneumonia (18.3%), measles (9.9%), and diarrhea (8.3%) were the most common cause of infectious morbidity observed in children. </span></p><p><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Conclusions</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle2">The prevalence of undernutrition was high in the study population, and it continues to be a public health burden because of its major effect on morbidity and impairment of intellectual and physical development in long‑term. Increasing the practice of exclusive breastfeeding, the introduction of timely complementary feeding, and standard case management of morbidities would be benefcial to combat the problem of undernutrition.<br /></span></p><p><span class="fontstyle0" style="color: #00652e;"><strong>Keywords</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle3">Breastfeeding, malnutrition, morbidity, underweight</span> <br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" /></p>http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/view/1927http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/download/1927/717717754