Abstract
In Eastern Indonesia, undernutrition in toddlers is still a serious public health concern, especially in Kupang City, where stunting and underweight rates are disproportionately high. Little is known about the cultural and personal experiences of mothers as primary caregivers, despite the fact that current research frequently focuses on biomedical and socioeconomic factors. In order to better understand how mothers in the Oesapa Public Health Center area deal with undernourished toddlers, this study will examine the emotional, cultural, and contextual elements that influence their caregiving behaviors.. The experience of hygiene and environmental sanitation practices is clean and healthy living behavior. The experience of child care in a state of illness includes a history of illness, maternal perceptions of child health problems, maternal compliance with the PHC program, child health care strategies and inhibiting factors in accessing health services. It is expected that mothers can pay more attention to parenting practices that include the portion and timing of children's meals, variations in the texture and appearance of food, provision of snacks, and hygienic habits such as washing hands before eating, brushing teeth regularly, and preventing children from putting foreign objects in the mouth. Purposively chosen mothers of undernourished children under five were interviewed in-depth as part of a qualitative phenomenological approach. Colaizzi's thematic method was used to analyze the data in order to find important themes and interpretations of the experiences of mothers. The study identified a number of fresh and situation-specific themes, such as culturally.