A cross sectional study on breastfeeding practices among mothers of rural population in Bareilly district

Background: Breastfeeding is the natural way of providing young infants with the optimal nutrients needed for healthy growth and development of infants. Following delivery, separation of mother and baby should be delayed for at least first hour to promote initiation of breastfeeding besides allowing uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact. As per National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 statistics, children under 3 years breastfed within one hour of birth was 40.1%. Aim and Objective: To study the breastfeeding practices among mothers belonging to rural population in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh. Methodology: The cross sectional study was conducted among the mothers who gave birth to a live baby within the last 6 months in the rural field practice area under RHTC of Department of Community Medicine, Shri Ram Murti Smarak Institute of Medical Sciences (SRMS IMS) at Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. The study was conducted over a period of one year i.e. from 1st July 2015 to 30th June, 2016. Data collected was entered in SPSS Version 20. Results: Overall 300 mothers participated in the study and were enquired about their breastfeeding practices. It was observed that breast feeding was initiated within 1 hour in only 10(15.2%) of home deliveries as against 46(19.7%) institutional deliveries. Breast milk given as first feed to the baby after birth was more in 178(76.0%) institutional deliveries than 18(27.3%) home deliveries. Conclusion: This study necessitate the need for breastfeeding intervention programs to be organized especially for the antenatal mother and during postnatal check-ups to sensitize them about the importance of early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding besides cautioning them against harmful and widely prevalent practice of prelacteal feeding