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Abstract Background: Nutrition is a significant factor in the growth, development and overall functioning of a child. Nutrition education is a critical component of most major health promotion and disease prevention programs. Aim: To evaluate the effect of nutritional counseling to the mothers of infants aged from 6 months to 2 years focusing on proper weaning and nutrition practice. Method: A descriptive cross sectional study that included 107 mothers of infants aged from 6 months to 2 years (57 males, 50 females; median age was 10 months) who attended nutritional counseling classes focused on proper weaning and nutrition practice. The counseling was done using a written tool (mother card) and verbal counseling. Pre- and post- educational questionnaires in Arabic language were filled by the mothers to assess the improvement in their knowledge. Results: A significant improvement of the maternal knowledge was noted after medical counseling and during the follow up visits (5 days after). Maternal knowledge about gaining information about their infants weaning and nutrition increased from 16% to 77% (p = <0.00). Data revealed that mothers respond better to information that focus on their specific areas of concern about their infants’ nutrition. Conclusion: Verbal counseling was effective in conveying brief concrete information and the written tool (mother card) was effective in addressing more complex information and helped the mothers to recall the information delivered by verbal counseling. Key words: nutrition – infants – weaning – counseling |