In order to investigate the knowledge and practices of mothers regarding breast feeding and complementary feeding and to assess their compliance with the health guidelines, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of infant complementary feeding and breast feeding practices was conducted in a sample of 230 mothers. Data was collected systematically from rural areas of Chowk Azam. A validated questionnaire comprising of questions pertaining to sociodemographic profile, knowledge and practices of breast feeding and complementary feeding practices was used. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and chi square test was applied.Our study resultsrevealed thatonly 18% mothers were practicing complementary feeding at the recommended age. About 72% of the respondents started complementary feeding before the recommended age of six months and 3% mothers started delayed complementary feeding. Around 6.5% mothers had children less than six months of age and did not start complementary feeding yet. Almost half of the respondents 56.3%were using the homemade complementary food, while less than a fourth i.e. 19.5% mothers were giving commercially prepared food to their children and rest of one-fourth mothers 24.2% were giving both types of food. We conclude that knowledge and practices of mothers pertaining to breast feeding and complementary feeding practices are at mixed levels, and their understanding aboutexact time of starting complementary feeding is suboptimal. There is a need to create awareness among mothers regarding theappropriate time of starting complementary feeding so that health status of the infants and children can be ameliorated.
Published in | Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 6) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16 |
Page(s) | 236-239 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Complementary Feeding, Pakistan, Knowledge, Breast Feeding
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APA Style
Anaam Arif, Ejaz Ahmad Khan, Abid Hussain, Muhammad Awais Arif. (2015). Knowledge and Practices of Mothers: Infant and Young Child’s Feeding in Chowk Azam, the Punjab, Pakistan. Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences, 3(6), 236-239. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16
ACS Style
Anaam Arif; Ejaz Ahmad Khan; Abid Hussain; Muhammad Awais Arif. Knowledge and Practices of Mothers: Infant and Young Child’s Feeding in Chowk Azam, the Punjab, Pakistan. J. Food Nutr. Sci. 2015, 3(6), 236-239. doi: 10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16
AMA Style
Anaam Arif, Ejaz Ahmad Khan, Abid Hussain, Muhammad Awais Arif. Knowledge and Practices of Mothers: Infant and Young Child’s Feeding in Chowk Azam, the Punjab, Pakistan. J Food Nutr Sci. 2015;3(6):236-239. doi: 10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16
@article{10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16, author = {Anaam Arif and Ejaz Ahmad Khan and Abid Hussain and Muhammad Awais Arif}, title = {Knowledge and Practices of Mothers: Infant and Young Child’s Feeding in Chowk Azam, the Punjab, Pakistan}, journal = {Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences}, volume = {3}, number = {6}, pages = {236-239}, doi = {10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfns.20150306.16}, abstract = {In order to investigate the knowledge and practices of mothers regarding breast feeding and complementary feeding and to assess their compliance with the health guidelines, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of infant complementary feeding and breast feeding practices was conducted in a sample of 230 mothers. Data was collected systematically from rural areas of Chowk Azam. A validated questionnaire comprising of questions pertaining to sociodemographic profile, knowledge and practices of breast feeding and complementary feeding practices was used. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and chi square test was applied.Our study resultsrevealed thatonly 18% mothers were practicing complementary feeding at the recommended age. About 72% of the respondents started complementary feeding before the recommended age of six months and 3% mothers started delayed complementary feeding. Around 6.5% mothers had children less than six months of age and did not start complementary feeding yet. Almost half of the respondents 56.3%were using the homemade complementary food, while less than a fourth i.e. 19.5% mothers were giving commercially prepared food to their children and rest of one-fourth mothers 24.2% were giving both types of food. We conclude that knowledge and practices of mothers pertaining to breast feeding and complementary feeding practices are at mixed levels, and their understanding aboutexact time of starting complementary feeding is suboptimal. There is a need to create awareness among mothers regarding theappropriate time of starting complementary feeding so that health status of the infants and children can be ameliorated.}, year = {2015} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Knowledge and Practices of Mothers: Infant and Young Child’s Feeding in Chowk Azam, the Punjab, Pakistan AU - Anaam Arif AU - Ejaz Ahmad Khan AU - Abid Hussain AU - Muhammad Awais Arif Y1 - 2015/12/05 PY - 2015 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16 DO - 10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16 T2 - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences JF - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences JO - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences SP - 236 EP - 239 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-7293 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20150306.16 AB - In order to investigate the knowledge and practices of mothers regarding breast feeding and complementary feeding and to assess their compliance with the health guidelines, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of infant complementary feeding and breast feeding practices was conducted in a sample of 230 mothers. Data was collected systematically from rural areas of Chowk Azam. A validated questionnaire comprising of questions pertaining to sociodemographic profile, knowledge and practices of breast feeding and complementary feeding practices was used. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and chi square test was applied.Our study resultsrevealed thatonly 18% mothers were practicing complementary feeding at the recommended age. About 72% of the respondents started complementary feeding before the recommended age of six months and 3% mothers started delayed complementary feeding. Around 6.5% mothers had children less than six months of age and did not start complementary feeding yet. Almost half of the respondents 56.3%were using the homemade complementary food, while less than a fourth i.e. 19.5% mothers were giving commercially prepared food to their children and rest of one-fourth mothers 24.2% were giving both types of food. We conclude that knowledge and practices of mothers pertaining to breast feeding and complementary feeding practices are at mixed levels, and their understanding aboutexact time of starting complementary feeding is suboptimal. There is a need to create awareness among mothers regarding theappropriate time of starting complementary feeding so that health status of the infants and children can be ameliorated. VL - 3 IS - 6 ER -