Awareness of breast feeding practices amongst women visiting government hospital at Ahmedabad

Authors

  • Ankushi A. Sanghvi AMC Medical Education Trust, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
  • Stuti D. Pathak AMC Medical Education Trust, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
  • Dhairya P. Nanavaty AMC Medical Education Trust, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
  • Manav S. Mehta AMC Medical Education Trust, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20203977

Keywords:

Exclusive breastfeeding, Prelacteal feeds, Colostrum, Breastfeeding awareness

Abstract

Background: Breastfeeding plays a very vital role in the overall health and development of a child. Breast milk has all the necessary nutrients required for the growth and well being of the child. It has been shown to have a protective role against various infectious and non-infectious diseases. The key elements are initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life and continued breastfeeding for 2 years along with other sources of nutrition.

Methods: A questionnaire based cross sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital. Mothers with children less than 10 years of age were included in the study.

Results:  Out of 150 women who were included in the study, maximum (59.33%) were in the age group of 19-26 years with the mean age being 25.7 years. 20% of women were illiterate, and a majority of them (68%) were Hindu. 115 (76.66%) mothers gave colostrum to the newborns, whereas 35 (23.33%) discarded colostrum. Also, 44% of mothers gave pre-lacteal feeds, whereas 56% of mothers didn't give pre-lacteal feeds. A significant association between initiation of breastfeeding was found with education, X2=12.63 (p<0.01).

Conclusions: Our study concluded that initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of life and colostrum feeding in the study population was lower than the WHO recommendation. Prelacteal feeding is still being practiced extensively, and that educated mothers are more likely to initiate breastfeeding within one hour of life.

 

References

World Health Organisation, health topics: Breastfeeding. Available at: https://www.who.int/ health-topics/breastfeeding#tab=tab_1. Accessed on 19 July 2020.

World Health Organisation. Fact Sheets:Infant and young child feeding. Available at: https://www.who. int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infant-and-young-child-feeding. Accessed on 19 July 2020.

Arora S, McJunkin C, Wehrer J, Kuhn P. Major factors influencing breastfeeding rates: Mother's perception of father's attitude and milk supply. Pediatrics. 2000;106(5):e67-9.

Allen J, Hector D. Benefits of breastfeeding. N S W Public Health Bull. 2005;16(3-4):42-6.

UNICEF. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_ 24806. Accessed on 19 July 2020.

Government of India. World breastfeeding week 2018 , National health portal of India. Available at: https://www.nhp.gov.in/world-breastfeeding-week-2018_pg. Accessed on 19 July 2020.

United Nations inter-agency group for child mortality estimation (2019). Child Mortality Estimates. Available at: https://childmortality.org/data/India. Accessed on 19 July 2020.

Raval D, Jankar D, Singh M. A study of breastfeeding practices among infants living in slums of Bhavnagar city, Gujarat, India. Ahmedabad: Healthline J. 2011;2(2):20.

Mohapatra I, Roy A. Breastfeeding awareness and perception among antenatal mothers: A cross-sectional study in urban slum population of Bhubaneswar, Odisha. J Education Health Promotion. 2018;7:60.

World Health Organisation. Early initiation of breastfeeding to promote exclusive breastfeeding. Available at: https://www.who.int/elena/titles/early_ breastfeeding/ en/. Accessed on 19 July 2020.

Acharya P, Khanal V. The effect of mother’s educational status on early initiation of breastfeeding: further analysis of three consecutive Nepal demographic and health surveys. BMC Public Health. 2015;15:1069.

Lawan UM, Amole GT, Jahum MG, Sani A. Age-appropriate feeding practices and nutritional status of infants attending child welfare clinic at a Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. J Fam Community Med. 2014; 21:6-12.

Amele EA, Wondimeneh DB, Desta KW, Woldemariam EB. Prelacteal feeding practice and its associated factors among mothers of children age less than 24 months old in Southern Ethiopia. Italian J Pediatrics. 2019;45(1):1-8.

Horii N, Allman J, Martin-Prével Y, Waltisperger D. Determinants of early initiation of breastfeeding in rural Niger: cross-sectional study of community based child healthcare promotion. International breast feeding journal. 2017;12(1):41.

McKenna M, Shankar R. The practice of prelacteal feeding to newborns among Hindu and Muslim families. J Midwifery Women's Health. 2009;54(1):78-81.

Breakey AA, Hinde K, Valeggia CR, Sinofsky A, Ellison PT. Illness in breastfeeding infants relates to concentration of lactoferrin and secretory Immunoglobulin A in mother’s milk. Evolution, Medicine, Public Health. 2015;2015(1):21-31.

Woldegebriel A. Mothers' knowledge and belief on breast feeding. Ethiopian Med J. 2002;40(4):365-74.

Downloads

Published

2020-09-25

How to Cite

Sanghvi, A. A., Pathak, S. D., Nanavaty, D. P., & Mehta, M. S. (2020). Awareness of breast feeding practices amongst women visiting government hospital at Ahmedabad. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 7(10), 3872–3876. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20203977

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles