Knowledge, attitude and practices of lactating mothers towards breastfeeding in a tertiary care hospital Nagpur: a cross sectional study

Abstract

Background: Breastfeeding is the most important intervention for reducing infant mortality and ensuring normal growth and development of a child. Objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices toward Breastfeeding among lactating mothers visiting immune-prophylaxis clinic of tertiary health care centre, Nagpur Maharashtra.Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 mothers at tertiary health care centre, Nagpur in the state of Maharashtra, India. The lactating mothers whose children under the age of 3 years were interviewed.Results: Maximum number of women were in the age group of 26-30 years (46%). Mothers with parity >1 had satisfactory knowledge regarding breastfeeding (p=0.0001). Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding rate was found to be 86%.Conclusions: Efforts should be strengthened to make mothers aware of health benefits of breastfeeding for themselves and their offspring to improve the overall maternal and child health.