BackgroundAccording to the recommendations from The World Health Organization, exclusive breast feeding (EBF) should be given to infants for the first six months for healthy growth and development. However, developing countries have a wide range of variation in the practice of EBF. From this study, we aim to estimate the duration of EBF and find the impact of socio-demographic characteristics on EBF.Materials and MethodsThis study was conducted at PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore in the month of July 2018. Mothers with children aged below 4 years attending the paediatric outpatient department were included in the study. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis and logistic regression analysis were employed.ResultsOur analysis indicates that the prevalence of EBF was 58.4% among infants up to 6 months of age with mean duration of EBF 4.52 months. It was observed that mothers of a younger age (15-24 years) and with lower socio-economic status were negatively associated with the practice of providing EBF to infants up to six months of age.ConclusionThe findings clearly indicate that the interventions related to EBF up to six months of age should be targeted at women in the lower socio-economic status and at younger ages.
Background: Early or timely initiation of breastfeeding, specifically within 1 h of birth, refers to the best practice recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO). Timely initiation of breastfeeding has the potential to prevent 22 % of neonatal deaths if all infants were breastfed within an hour after birth [1]. The primary objective of the paper is to estimate the prevalence of breast feeding initiation within first hour of life and the clinical correlates and socio demographic factors. Material and methods: This study was conducted at PSG Institute of Medical Science and Research, Coimbatore in the month of July 2018. Mothers with the children age below four years attending paediatric outpatient department were included in the study. Multivariate logistic analysis was usedto determine the factors associated with timely initiation breastfeeding practice. Results: The prevalence of timely initiation of breastfeeding within one hour was 56.5%. It was observed that the caesarean delivery, preterm delivery, sick condition of the baby, earlier breast surgery, lack of counselling after delivery and lack of skin to skin contact at birth were negatively associated with timely initiation of breastfeeding within one hour. Conclusion: The findings clearly indicated that nearly half of the mothers did not initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
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