The Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Mothers Regarding Breast Feeding and Factors Affecting It at A Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background: Breastfeeding is assumed to be the primary consideration in both death and life for the vast majority of children living in low-income nations; however, the breastfeeding pattern and exclusive breastfeeding are deemed to be more important, regardless of the fact that most mothers tend to ignore these elements. In terms of their children's general nutritional health, mothers' attitudes regarding breastfeeding are the major determinant. Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of mothers regarding breastfeeding and factors responsible for it at a tertiary care hospital (SKBZ/AK CMH Hospital Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir. Study Design: This descriptive cross-sectional study. Settings: Department of Pediatrics, Skbz/AK, CMH Hospital, Muzaffarabad Pakistan. Duration: The duration of the study was six months, from October 2019 to March 2020. Methods: All the mothers, ages 18 to 40, visiting the pediatric out patient department (OPD) with their babies aged less than 2 years were included. After taking demographic information, mothers were face to face interviewed regarding their feeding pattern, knowledge regarding breast feeding, their attitude, and breast-feeding practice. A self-made, simple questions-based questioner was used to collect the information. A questionnaire-based study protocol was used to collect all of the data. SPSS version 26 was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 89 mothers were interviewed regarding their knowledge, attitude, and practice of breast feeding. Mean maternal age was 28.84 ± 3.75 years and men neonatal age was 6.76 ± 5.10 months. Out of all 37.1% mother were found with exclusive breast feeding, 24.7% neonates were bon bottle feeding, while 38.2% were both breast and bottle feeding. Out of all 80.9% mother well aware regarding advantage and disadvantages of exclusive breastfeeding, 65.2% of the mothers had positive attuite, while most of the women 62.9% had unsatisfactory breast-feeding practice. Mothers’ knowledge, attitude, and breastfeeding practice according to residence, parity, education, antenatal history and emotional support found statistically insignificant (p =>0.05). Conclusion: Mothers seemed to have an average level of breastfeeding awareness and a positive attitude, while most of the women had unsatisfactory breastfeeding practices. Emotional support, maternal perceptions, outdoor working status, mother becoming pregnant again, mother being sick, and breast infection were the factors affecting breast-feeding continuation.