Breast feeding pattern in teaching districts of a health sciences university in eastern Nepal

Background: Adequate nutrition early in life has an important role in determining infants’ growth and development, and in preventing many adult diseases. Over 2/3rd of under-5 child deaths in the world is associated with inappropriate feeding practices and occurs during infancy. Yet, only 1/3rd of world’s infants are optimally fed. Objectives: To investigate breast feeding patterns and its relation to sociodemographic factors; and to identify factors associated with initiation, continuation, and maintenance of breast-feeding. Methods: Cross-sectional, semi-structured questionnaire based study. 508 mothers of infants attending health center were interviewed about feeding patterns and socioeconomic variables. Data were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. Results: 55.9 % infants were breastfed within first hour of life and 90 % within the first day. Rapid decline in exclusive-breastfeeding was seen with infant’s age (78.6 % at 1 month, 37.3 % at 1-3 months, 35.4 % at 3-6 months). Factors significantly associated with exclusive breast- feeding were maternal age and education, family income and type. 17.9% infants were given pre-lacteals where as 92.9 % received Colostrum. Major factors associated with early initiation of breast-feeding were maternal age and education, family type and mode of delivery. Conclusion: The results show that national guidelines, public messages, and educational campaigns need to be strengthened to achieve desired goals regarding breast feeding