DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i01.021

Pages: 101-105

Under nutrition is responsible for more than one–third of under–five child deaths globally. The major reason for undernutrition in children is faulty Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices due to lack of knowledge of the mothers and caretakers. Medical and paramedical personnel play a key role in educating the mothers as they are the first point of contact in institutional deliveries, immunization clinics and well–baby clinics. The present study aims at assessing the knowledge of medical and nursing students about IYCF practices at Government General Hospital (GGH), Kakinada. The study population includes 100 final year medical students of Rangaraya Medical College and 182 final year nursing students of nursing schools attached to GGH, Kakinada. This is a cross–sectional observational study. The study population is interviewed with a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Data thus obtained is tabulated and analysed statistically. The present study shows that the correct knowledge of time of initiation of breastfeeding is 82% and 61.5% in medical and nursing students respectively. 99% and 73.6% of medical and nursing students are aware of giving colostrum. Knowledge of pre–lacteals and correct attachment of baby is very poor among nursing students (18.1% & 35.2%). Knowledge of duration of exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months is 87% in medical students and only 30.8% in nursing students. Both medical and nursing students have poor knowledge of breastfeeding during maternal illness and local conditions of breast. Knowledge of age of introduction, frequency and quantity of complementary feed is poor among both the groups. Both the groups have poor knowledge of continuation of breast feeding upto 2 years. This study shows that the knowledge of various aspects of IYCF practices is poor among both medical and nursing students. Hence these aspects should be well–addressed in their curriculum.