Feeding patterns of infants and pre-school children in the urban and rural areas of Jammu (Kashmir)
Sharma, D.B.; Lahori, U.C.
Indian Pediatrics 14(4): 247-254
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-6061 PMID: 924630 Document Number: 119652
A survey of feeding patterns of 1200 urban and 1000 rural infants and preschool children of Jammu in Kashmir, India showed that 97.4% of the urban and 99.3% of the rural children had been started on breast feeds; 42.4 and 62.5% of the urban and 15.9 and 42.4% of the rural infants below 3 and above 3.5 months, respectively, were receiving supplementary feeds in addition to breast milk. Below the age of 9 months 35.0% of the urban and 22.6% of the rural children had started getting solids. Whereas the frequency with which solids were introduced before 12 months decreased with increasing birth order among the urban community, it showed a striking increase among the rural children of third birth order or beyond as compared with those of first and second birth order. Breast feeding had been discontinued completely before 6 months old in 20.8% of the urban and 0.8% of the rural children. While weaning was complete in 61.9% of the urban children by 1.5 years old, 76.6% of the rural children continued to be breast-fed, 47.7% even beyond 2 years. There were trends towards earlier discontinuation of breast feeding with increasing level of socioeconomic status and of maternal education.