ABSTRACT
Background: It is well known that education level of father and mother is an important factor to achieve breastfeeding. But, according to some literature, there is still controversy that education of parents is really a major factor to affect breastfeeding practices. Objective: To find out relationship of educational level of parents with their breast feeding practices. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was carried out in rural and urban areas of Lucknow. Multistage random sampling was used. A pre designed & pretested questionnaire was used and house to house survey was done. 528 infants with their mothers as respondent were interviewed and information about their educational level and breast feeding practices were collected. Results: Majority of mothers in rural areas were illiterate (58.3%) as compared to only 20.5% in urban areas. Majority of fathers were literate in both urban and rural areas.Lower educational status of mother and father were significantly negatively associated with initiation of breastfeeding within 1 hr, colostrum giving, exclusive breastfeeding.36.7% mothers started breast feeding within one hour, while 83.0% mothers gave colostrum. Exclusive breast feeding was present in 65.6% mothers. Similar to breastfeeding initiation, a random but statistically significant difference in number of women who exclusively breastfed their infants was observed in different educational classes with maximum proportion for graduates and above (82.1%) and minimum proportion for those who were just literate or educated upto primary level. Conclusion: The study reveals that perceptions of breastfeeding are higher in educated parents than illiterate parents. To reach at an ever satisfactory level of breastfeeding practice, more attention and education need to be given amongst the general people.