Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Exclusive Breastfeeding amongst Mothers of Rural Population in Central India A Cross Sectional Analytical Study

Author(s):

Priya pratapan nair , Deepti shrivastava , Meenal akare kalambe

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is recommended for 6 months of age following birth by the World Health Organisation (WHO), followed by continuing of breastfeeding till 2 years of age or beyond along with complementary foods. There is still a long way to go in filling the gap regarding the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) on EBF amongst mothers. 

 Methodology: This study was conducted to explore the KAP of EBF in mothers attending the outpatient department of Datta Meghe Medical College and Shalinitai Meghe Hospital and Research Centre, Wanadongri, Hingna, Nagpur. Information on maternal KAP on EBF was collected through structured questionnaires for a total of 284 mothers, recruited from the outpatient department of obstetrics who come for follow up during delivery and paediatric department who come with their neonates for vaccination or other reasons, during the duration of period of 1 year from June 2020 till may 2021with infants between 0–12 months of age were questioned. Maternal knowledge and attitudes on variousaspects of breastfeeding were determined. The knowledge and attitude scores were also calculated.

Results:The percentage of primiparous women were 54.92 % and multiparous were 45.07 %. 78.16 % of women lived in joint family which can be a cause in decreasing duration of exclusive breastfeeding. 72.53 % mothers were unemployed which can be taken as positive factor for breastfeeding on demand. 86.97 % mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months, 88. 38 % mothers felt prelacteal feeds should not be given and 73.23 % knew the importance of colostrum.58.09% of mothers were able to initiate breastfeeding within 1-4 hours of delivery.

Conclusion: There is still a dearth in knowledge regarding exclusive breastfeeding benefits, colostrum feed, duration of breastfeeding amongst mothers for which reinforcement of knowledge is required which will change the behaviour of women towards breastfeeding.