Open AccessKnowledge, attitude & practices about infant feeding among mothers of urban & rural areas of Ajmer district
Author(s) -
Divya Karnawat,
B S Karnawat,
Anuradha Rajiv Joshi,
G. Kalsi Kohli
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of medical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2395-7565
DOI - 10.31254/jmr.2015.1308
Subject(s) - breastfeeding , weaning , breast milk , breast feeding , medicine , rural area , demography , family medicine , pediatrics , biochemistry , chemistry , pathology , sociology , endocrinology
Objective: To study and compare knowledge (K), attitude (A) and practices (P) about breastfeeding and weaning among urban and rural mothers. Study design: cross-sectional study. Study setting: outdoor department of pediatrics of a Medical College Hospital. Material: 60 Mothers (30 rural & 30 urban) having at least one child below 2 years of age. Methods: Structured interview through questionnaire to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of subjects on breastfeeding and weaning. Result and Conclusion: Rural mothers had poor knowledge about choice of milk for newborn, duration of exclusive and total breastfeeding. Janam ghutti, diluted animal milk were commonly used by rural mothers. Only 20% rural mothers knew about correct age of weaning. Knowledge and practice scores of urban mothers were better than that of rural ones. The average knowledge score of urban mother in breast feeding and weaning was 61.6% and 64.0% respectively as compared to 45% and 44% respectively of rural mother. Attitude scores on breastfeeding among the groups were 81.8% which was better in rural mothers whereas attitude scores about weaning among the groups was average 50%. The average score 83.3% of breast feeding practices among urban mother was for more that of rural mother 58.3%. Again similar observation was made for weaning practices in which average score of urban mother (86.8%) was ahead of rural mother (68.0%).