DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2019.v07i08.035

Pages: 2803-2807

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months of infants’ lives is a cost effective intervention in saving children’s lives and can avert 13 - 15% of the 9 million deaths of children under 5 years old in resource poor settings. Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), which is defined as giving an infant only breast milk from birth up to 6 months of age, without giving other liquids or solids, not even water, with the exception of oral rehydration solution, or drops/syrups of vitamins, minerals or medicines as per World Health Organization (WHO) followed by breastfeeding along with complementary foods for up to two years of age or beyond. A survey-based study was conducted on a group of 500 mothers of children aged 2 to 3 years of age to elicit information about infant feeding practices by the use of a properly designed performa by interviewing the mothers. A structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic, breastfeeding patterns and nutritional data during the interviews. Estimation on EBF was based on recall since birth. Exclusive breast feeding for 6 months was practiced by only 37% of the mothers. Initiation of breast feeding within one hour was only in 12.2% women. 46.6% new borns received prelacteal feed before initiating breast feed while 267(53.4%) were directly started on breast feeds without giving any prelacteal feed. The prevalence of EBF in our study is low. Strategies to target beliefs that breast milk is insufficient for growth need to be strengthened in the community. There is gap between the knowledge and what they practise. Furthermore opportunity to increase EBF training during ante and postnatal visits for women should be enhanced.