<![CDATA[Background: The high prevalence of stunting remains a major health issue among children under five. Stunting can be caused by inadequate parenting styles and nutritional intake. Objective: This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the modified peek-a-boo method in stunting prevention efforts. Method: This research employed a randomized clinical trial design. Participants consisted of 120 mothers with children aged 6–24 months at the Sleman Health Center, DIY Province, Indonesia, from June to October 2024. This method is a combination of maternal hugging and kissing parenting patterns along with local-based macronutrient intake, which functions to provide maternal affection and additional nutrition sourced from local animal protein, specifically snakehead fish (ikan gabus). Participants in the intervention group received training, mentoring, and monitoring evaluation for three days. The trial was conducted for three days with a frequency of at least three times a day, lasting 15–20 minutes per session. Stunting was measured through growth monitoring using height-for- age (HAZ) measurements in accordance with the Ministry of Health standards. HAZ calculations before and after the intervention were compared using the Wilcoxon signed- rank test. Results: The results of this study showed a p-value of 0.000 < 0.05. Thus, it can be concluded that there is a significant difference in the mean HAZ scores within the intervention group (comparison before and after intervention), which indicates the effectiveness of the kissing, hugging, and macronutrient supplementation method for stunting prevention. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that toddlers provided with maternal kissing and hugging, along with additional macronutrient intake, are more effectively protected against stunting. Given that this method does not require significant time, cost, or special equipment, it is suggested as a recommendation to be promptly adopted nationally as a primary Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in stunting prevention efforts across Indonesia.Keyword: hugging; kissing; macronutrient intake; stunting; toddlers]]>
