A Study on Infant Feeding Practices and Growth Assessment in Field Practice Area of PIMS, Karimnagar

Background: The common cause of deaths in 50% of childrenbelow the age of 5 years is undernutrition. It is estimated that13 – 16% of these deaths can be easily avoided by exclusivebreastfeeding in the first 6 months. An additional 6% of deathsmay be avoided by appropriate complementary feeding till theage of 2 years. We in the current study tried to evaluate theinfant feeding practices in the field are of PIMS, Karimnagar.Methods: The variables recorded wereReligion, Literacy status,and socioeconomic status: Socio-economic status was recordedbased on Modified Kuppuswamy Classification.Type of family,Type of House, Birth Weight, and Immunization status. A Predesigned and pre-tested proforma was used the investigatorinterviewed the mother in the local language using apredesigned proforma. Each infant-mother was interviewedfor about 40 minutes. Sample size calculation AP prevalenceof exclusive breastfeeding is 67.2 (NFHS -3), Calculation ofsample size for qualitative data the total was rounded to n=400Results: And all the babies were given colostrum feeding. 302(75.4%) of mothers had initiated breastfeeding within 2-4 hoursfollowed by 85 (21.3%) who were breastfed within the firstone hour, 8(2%) who were breastfed within 7-12 Hrs, 4(1%)who were breastfed within 12-24 hrs. Weight for age, 284 (71%)of childrenwere normal, 86 (21.5%) were moderatelyunderweight and 30 (7.5%) wereseverely underweight.Whenlength for age was assessed, 58 (14.5%) weremoderatelystunted and 24 (6%) severely stunted. For length for weight,thepresent study observed that 87 (21.75%) had moderatewasting and 43(10.75%) had severe wasting. A significantdifference was noted betweenboys and girls with regards toweight for age and length for weight.Conclusion:The overall new-born care practices were good in thepresent study area. The majority (99%) of the deliveries wereconducted in institutions by a skilled birth attendant. Threefourth of the women had an interval of 25-36 months betweenthe previous two successive deliveries. Most (94.1%) of thenew-born were wrapped immediately after birth and bathingof the new-born was delayed till 2 days (70.6%) to avoidhypothermia. However, practices like application on theumbilical cord and giving bath to the new-born were alsoobserved on certain occasions.