Colostrum feeding practices and its determinants among urban and rural mothers in Kamrup, Assam, India

Authors

  • Rana Kakati Department of Community Medicine, Jorhat Medical College, Jorhat, Assam
  • Syeda Jesmin Rahman Department of Community Medicine, Jorhat Medical College, Jorhat, Assam
  • Madhur Borah Department of Community Medicine, Jorhat Medical College, Jorhat, Assam
  • Hiyeswar Borah Department of Community Medicine, Jorhat Medical College, Jorhat, Assam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20163331

Keywords:

Colostrum, Feeding practices, Determinants, Rural, Urban

Abstract

Background: Colostrum is the first breast milk produced after birth and is important for promotion of health and prevention of infections of the newborn immediately after birth. Though the breastfeeding practices are well known to mothers but the necessity of colostrum feeding is still poorly understood especially by the mothers in rural areas due to various factors. The objective of the study was to find out the prevalence of colostrum feeding practices and its determinants among the urban and rural mothers of Assam, India.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from February-July 2014. The study was conducted by interviewing of 400 mothers having children of 0-23 months of age in both in rural and urban areas.

Results: 21% of mothers in urban areas had discarded colostrum whereas in rural areas it was 29.5% .The association between colostrum feeding practices and age of the mothers (P<0.05), religion (P<0.05), type of families (P<0.05), educational status of the mothers (P<0.05), socioeconomic status (P<0.05), place of delivery (P<0.05), mode of delivery (P<0.05) were found to be significant.

Conclusions: Colostrum feeding practices were lowers among rural mothers , low educational status, who had delivered at home and reasons behind the discard of colostrum were found to be eleder’s/relative advice, child could not digest and ignorance . Educating the mothers and the communities about the value of colostrum would help in ensuring that colostrum is not wasted but fed to the child.

References

National Guideline on IYCF; MOWCD (Food & Nutrition Board GOI 2006).

National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) Fact Sheet, Assam. Provisional Data; Key indicators for Assam from NFHS-3.

Silva P. Environmental Factors and Children’s Malnutrition in Ethiopia: Policy Research. Working Paper Series No. 3489. The World Bank, Washington DC. 2005.

Alemayehu T, Haidar, J, Habte, D. Determinants of Exclusive Breastfeeding Practices in Ethiopia. Ethiopian. J Health Development. 2009;23:12-8.

Census 2011, Office of Registrar General of India available at http://www.censusindia.gov.in. Last accessed on July 2015.

Annual health Survey 2011-12 Fact Sheet, Assam. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, New Delhi.

Baruah R. A study on pregnancy pregnancy wastage in rural area of Assam (Rani Block of Kamrup District. Thesis submitted to Gauhati University for MD degree in Community Medicine. 1992.

Kalita D. Child care practices of mothers having 1 -5 years children in Sonapur, Kamrup District, Assam. Thesis submitted to Gauhati University for MD degree of Community Medicine. 2007.

Census 2001, Office of Registrar General of India available at http://www.censusindia.gov.in/ Census_Data_2001/States_at_glance/State_Links/18_asm.pdf last accessed on August 2015.

National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) Fact Sheet, Assam. Provisional Data; Key indicators for Assam from NFHS-3.

Yadav RJ, Singh P. Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of mothers about Breastfeeding in Bihar. Indian Journal of Community Medicine. 2004;29(3).

Gupta P, Srivastava VK, Kumar V, Jain S, Masood J, Ahmad N, et al. Newborn Care Practices in Urban Slums of Lucknow City, Uttar Pradesh. Indian J Community Medicine. 2010;35(1):82-5.

Kumar D, Goel NK, Mittal PC, Misra P. Influence of infant-feeding practices on nutritional status of under-five children. Indian J Paediatrics. 2006;73(5):417-21.

Dasgupta A, Naiya S, Ray S, Ghosal A, Pravakar R, Ram PS. Assessment of Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices among the Mothers in a Slum Area of Kolkata: A Cross Sectional Study. Int J Biol Med. Res. 2014;5(1):3855-61.

Ashwini S, Kaitti SM, Mallapur MD. Comparison of breast feeding practices among urban and rural mothers in field practice areas of the department of Community Medicine, JNM College, Belgaun: A cross-sectional study. 2014;4(1):120-4.

Pandey R. Breast feeding and the Working Women in India. Allahabad: Chugh Publications. 1990;8.

Subbulakshhmi G, Udipi SA, Nirmalama N. Feeding of colostrum in urban and rural areas. Indian J Paediatr. 1990;50:191-6.

Downloads

Published

2016-12-19

How to Cite

Kakati, R., Rahman, S. J., Borah, M., & Borah, H. (2016). Colostrum feeding practices and its determinants among urban and rural mothers in Kamrup, Assam, India. International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 4(10), 4567–4572. https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20163331

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles