Author(s):

Veena Kumari and Anupama Sharma

Abstract: Breastfeeding directly affects the wellbeing of the children. The present study intends to explore the extent to which lactating women of Patna district have knowledge, attitudes and practices towards breast feeding as well as exclusive breast feeding. The target study population selected was lactating mothers with the youngest child aged 3 years or less. The study was conducted purposely at A G Colony of Patna District. The data were collected from the 50 respondent mothers .The results of this study inferred that only 20 percent mother have correct knowledge of initiation of breastfeeding. It indicates poor knowledge among the lactating women of Patna regarding the first initiation of breast milk to the new born. Among the reason baby’s illness emerged as the major cause of late initiation of breast feeding. In this study even though the majority of mothers were knowledgeable about the importance of colostrums feeding but they not are practicing in their life. This study concluded poor knowledge and practice to exclusive breast feeding for the first six months postpartum among respondent mothers. The maternal knowledge about breastfeeding was just satisfactory and there was a significant gap between actual and desired practices. Hence, it justifies the need for strengthening community based health education programs as well as other Information Education Communication (IEC) activities related to mother and child health. Not only rural areas but urban areas of Patna also demands for educating mothers about optimal child feeding practice at different occasions and gatherings which may proof to be better opportunity to enhance mothers’ knowledge and attitude of child feeding practices.

Pages: 918-924  |  1294 Views  203 Downloads

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