A study of breast-feeding practices among rural women

A study of breast-feeding practices among rural women Patel S.1, K Nigam K.2*, Babu G.3, Murty Kadali S.4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17511/ijphr.2020.i06.02 1 Santosh Patel, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, RKDF Medical College and Research Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. 2* Kamlesh K Nigam, Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, RKDF Medical College and Research Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. 3 G. Chitti Babu, Assistant professor, JNU Medical College and Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. 4 SLDV Ramana Murty Kadali, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, JNU Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.


Introduction
Appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices are essential for optimal growth, cognitive development, and overall well-being in early vulnerable years of life. Breastfeeding though is a natural act; it is a behavior that needs to be learned. Mothers and other caregivers need active assistance for optimum breastfeeding practices. As there is a paucity of literature on the feeding practices in this region, the present study was undertaken to assess the feeding practices of mothers having children under-five years of age.
The interaction of sociodemographic variables with feeding practices and associations of childhood morbidity were studied.

Patel S. et al: A study of breast-feeding practices among
Public Health Review -International Journal of Public Health Research 2020;7(6) Hence the following study was done to know the practice of breastfeeding in mothers of rural and urban areas in central India.

Materials and Methods
The study was conducted in a rural area, which is an adopted area under the administrative control of the    This could be explained as argued by Chaudhuri RN that mothers gain experience in child management as they increase in age, and in the quest of younger mothers to maintain their breast size and beauty and introduce early supplementary feeding [12].

Sociodemographic information
In the present study, the religion of the mother was found to influence their practice of breastfeeding. A similar finding has been reported in a similar study by Vieira TO et al. [13]. The influence of religion on breastfeeding could be explained by the influence of cultural beliefs and practices of the various ethnic groups in India on breastfeeding practices. For instance, Gupta P and colleagues have postulated that mothers mostly from the urban slums groups in Lucknow held the belief that the breast is filled with breast milk on the third day after birth which delays the initiation of breastfeeding [14].
Concerning the education of mothers in our current study who had a tertiary education were less likely to breastfeed their infants. This finding is in contrast to what has been documented in other similar studies where mothers who had informal education and/or with lower education were all less likely to exclusively breastfeed their infants [15]. Our results could be explained by Madhu K the fact that mothers with higher education tend to engage in formal employment and mothers who are engaged in formal employment are less likely to breastfeed [16].
In the present study, the findings showed that mothers who were occupations such as unemployed were more likely to practice breastfeeding. This finding was in line with earlier studies that found self-employed mothers to be more likely to practice 6 months of breastfeeding [17]. This study found that mothers whose households were headed by males were more likely to practice exclusive breastfeeding but this relationship was not statistically significant after adjusting for other explanatory variables.
This result was similar to the findings of other studies in Ghana [18]. where the decision of 6 months and 24 to 26 h exclusive breastfeeding was influenced by spouses and family members respectively.
It was also very intriguing to find that the district of residence was significantly associated with breastfeeding practice among the study participants. Women from rural areas were 46.5% likely to practice breastfeeding compared to those from urban areas. breastfeeding practice in the rural area [19]. What does the study add to the existing knowledge?
To further understand other factors influencing the practice of breastfeeding and to design a suitable evidence-based intervention targeting young mothers, it is recommended further qualitative studies in this area.