Abstract
Infant growth monitoring is essential for identifying early nutritional problems and guiding timely counselling. Weight-for-age (WFA) is a simple anthropometric index used in routine child growth surveillance, but its interpretation should follow sex-specific WHO standards and should not be used alone to diagnose overweight. This study aimed to describe infant nutritional status using WFA at Hj. Andi Nani Nurcahyani Independent Midwifery Practice in Makassar. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design was used. The source thesis recorded 35 infants recruited by accidental sampling during the study period. Infant age and body weight were obtained through direct measurement and documentation review, then summarized using frequency distributions. Most infants were aged 0-6 months (30/35; 85.7%), and the most frequent body-weight range was 6-7 kg (14/35; 40.0%). The source WFA table classified 23 infants (65.7%) as normal and 12 (34.3%) as above the cut-off applied in the thesis, while a separate final nutritional-status table reported 28 infants (80.0%) as normal and 7 (20.0%) as having higher nutritional status. Because the thesis used a >+2 SD threshold for the higher WFA category and the master table did not include sex-specific z-scores, these two summaries could not be independently reconciled. Current Indonesian standards classify WFA >+1 SD as risk of higher body weight and recommend confirmation with weight-for-length/height or BMI-for-age. The findings indicate that most infants in this facility-based sample were reported to have normal weight status, but a meaningful proportion required continued growth surveillance. Routine plotting of serial measurements, verification with sex-specific growth standards, support for exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months, and appropriate complementary feeding thereafter remain important.
