The Effect of Mother's Work on Child Care, Dietary Intake, and Dietary Adequacy of Pre-School Children

Rafiqul Huda Chaudhu

 

Abstract

In this study an attempt is made to analyze the effects of mother’s work on such aspects of child welfare as child care, dietary intake, and dietary adequacy status of pre-school children by employing data from a rural area of Bangladesh. The data show that although the mother is the major source of child care, older female children are also important. However, the quality of child care time provided by female children is not at par with that of child care provided by mothers. Time spent by the mother in child care is found to have a positive and significant effect on the calorie and protein intake and dietary adequacy status of pre-school children. However, when a mother works, her home production activities, particularly time spent in child care, are significantly reduced. The more hours per day a mother works, the less time she devotes to child care. This has a small but negative effect on the dietary intake and dietary adequacy of pre-school children. Older female children of working mothers devote significantly more time to child care than do those of non-working mothers.

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