A RESEARCH STUDY ABOUT BREASTFEEDING PRACTICES AMONG NON-WORKING AND WORKING FEMALES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Objective: This study was conducted to compare infant feeding practices among non-working and working females. Study Design: A Comparative Study. Place and Duration: In the Immunization center of Pediatric medicine in Services Hospital Lahore for One-year duration from June 2017 to June 2018. Methods: This is a hospital-based comparative study that uses deliberate sampling of 213 and 108 sample size in each arm of inactive and non-working mothers of children between 14 and 24 months. Results: Most of the groups were under the age of 25 years. 53.3% of the women who do not work and 42.1% of the employees started breastfeeding 1 hour after birth. 96.92% of female workers and 94.99% of non- working women fed their children with colostrum. Conclusion: The breastfeeding rate was higher significantly in the group of non-workers than in the study group. In this study, socioeconomic status, maternal education, type of delivery, family type, birth order factors are factors affecting breastfeeding practices. Key words: Pre-dairy foods, Working women, special breastfeeding, breastfeeding