RESUMO
Background: Knowledge of breast feeding is essential among healthcare providers
Objective: To determine level of knowledge and practices of breastfeeding among nurses working in public sector pediatric and obstetric units of Bahawalpur City
Methodology: Study design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration: Public sector hospitals of Bahawalpur City from 1 [st] June to 31[st] December 2013. All nurses working in Pediatric and Obstetrics departments for more than one month were included in the study after taking verbal consent. Information was collected through a structured questionnaire. Questions for assessing level of knowledge were feeding of colostrum, initiation of breastfeeding within half hour after delivery, duration of exclusive breastfeeding, total duration of breastfeeding, maximum interval between two feeds, continuation of breastfeeding during adverse health conditions of mother like fever, diabetes mellitus, hepatitis [B, C], active pulmonary tuberculosis and continuation of breastfeeding in adverse health conditions of children like, diarrhea, fever, respiratory tract infections and malnutrition. Practices of breastfeeding were evaluated among married nurses having one a live child of less than 2 years of age by asking breastfeeding her child currently, initiated breastfeeding within half hour after birth of her child, fed colostrum to infant or discarded, exclusively breastfed till age of 6 months and maximum interval between two feeds. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 17. Scoring method was used to assess level of knowledge and practices of breastfeeding. One mark was given for correct answer and zero for incorrect. Knowledge was categorized into good if score was more than 70%, transitory if score between 50- 70% and below 50% were labeled as having poor knowledge
Results: Out of 13 aspects asked about knowledge of breastfeeding highest knowledge was found about continuation of breastfeeding if child is suffering from diarrhea [79.31%] followed by correct knowledge about feeding of colostrum [75.86%] and about exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months [68.10%]. The duration of service was directly related with level of knowledge [p=0.0000]. Our study revealed that 29.16% nurses initiated breastfeeding within half hour of delivery, 16.66% were breastfeeding her child currently, 12.5% Fed colostrum to her child and practices of exclusive breastfeeding till age of 6 months and correct interval between two feeds was not observed by any study participant
Conclusion: There was poor knowledge and lack of proper practices of breastfeeding among nurses