The impact of nutrition counseling on maternal knowledge, dietary intake, and motor development among stunted toddlers

Background: Stunting is a chronic nutritional problem that affects not only children’s physical growth but also their functional development, including motor skills. This study aimed to analyze the impact of nutrition counseling on maternal knowledge, toddler dietary intake, and motor development among stunted toddlers in coastal Kendari Methods: A pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design was conducted among 43 mothers and their stunted toddlers aged 10–59 months in selected coastal communities. Mothers received structured nutrition counseling focusing on balanced nutrition, complementary feeding, dietary diversity, and hygiene. Paired t-tests analyzed pre–post changes, and linear regression examined associations between sociodemographic characteristics (child age, gender, maternal education, and household income) and changes in outcomes (Δ scores). Results: Maternal nutrition knowledge significantly increased from 47.2 ± 9.08 to 61.6 ± 7.99 (Δ = 14.4, 95% CI 11.8–17.0, p = 0.001; Cohen’s d = 1.69). Toddler dietary intake improved from 49.5 ± 9.50 to 63.4 ± 5.72 (Δ = 13.9, 95% CI 11.5–16.3, p = 0.001; d = 1.79), and motor development scores increased from 52.3 ± 8.41 to 61.8 ± 6.97 (Δ = 9.5, 95% CI 7.1–11.9, p = 0.002; d = 1.23). Regression analysis showed that higher maternal education, female gender, and higher household income were significantly associated with greater improvements in maternal knowledge, toddler dietary intake, and motor development. Conclusion: Nutrition counseling significantly enhances maternal knowledge, toddler dietary intake, and motor development among stunted toddlers in coastal Kendari.