Complete coverage and covering completely: Breast feeding and complementary feeding: Knowledge, attitude, and practices of mothers
Jain, S.; Thapar, R.K.; Gupta, R.K.
Medical Journal Armed Forces India 74(1): 28-32
2018
ISSN/ISBN: 0377-1237 PMID: 29386728 DOI: 10.1016/j.mjafi.2017.03.003Document Number: 255945
Knowing current trends for timely comprehensive action for health promotion practices is an important prerequisite for medical practitioners and policy makers. A survey of mothers at a Tertiary Care Hospital in central India. On the knowledge front >83.75% of the mothers studied showed good knowledge about breastfeeding and complementary feeding. Similar, but not as encouraging, were the results about attitude, with 76.25% of mothers having a positive attitude. The results of the practices part were varied. The WHO indicators assessed were 'early initiation of breastfeeding' (68.75%), 'exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months' (85%) (however exclusive breast feeding for first 6 months was carried out by only 36.25%), 'introduction of solid, semi-solid or soft foods' (48.75%), 'continued breastfeeding at 1 year' (63.75%) and 'continued breastfeeding at 2 years' (6.25%). There is a discrepancy between knowledge and practices. The exclusive breast feeding rates are far from the ideal and there is a decline of continued breast feeding beyond 15 months. This calls for sustained efforts with the aim - 'cover all and cover completely'. The ideal WHO indicator for exclusive breast feeding should be 'exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months' which will provide information about the completeness of this ideal practice.