Abstract

WHO recommends breastfeeding to be initiated within an hour of birth and continued exclusively for 6 months. Often, primi mothers are more anxious and less confident regarding their breastfeeding capabilities as compared to multipara mothers due to a lack of knowledge, confidence, and experience. This study assessed knowledge, attitude and practice regarding breast feeding in primi mothers at Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. METHOD- A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 500 primi mothers of infants of 0–6 month’s age using a pre-designed questionnaire. RESULT-In our study, the majority of primi mothers understood the exact meaning of exclusive breastfeeding and 72.8% of primi mothers had knowledge that breast milk should be given exclusively for the first 6 months, 64.4% of primi mothers had knowledge that breast milk protects babies from various diseases and infections. 47.6% mothers had anxiety about being able to breast feed their babies till 6 months. 64.2% mothers had plan of Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and 75.6% mothers had plan to introduce complementary feeding after 6 months. 64.4% of primi mothers had initiated breast feeding within 1 hour, which indicates good practice. Majority of primi mothers practiced hand hygiene before feeding. CONCLUSION- Our findings suggest that most primi mothers had adequate knowledge of breast feeding. Maternal education was an important factor affecting knowledge about benefits of breast feeding.

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