RESUMO
Background: It is a common misbelief that milk comes only on the second or third day of life. Prelacteal feeds are often given to a newborn for fear that he may be hungry or may become dehydrated. Objectives: 1. To study the prelacteal feeding practices in rural community. 2. To study some factors related to prelacteal feeding. Materials & Methods: The present cross sectional study was conducted in three adopted villages of Department of P.S.M., S.R.T.R. Medical College, Ambajogai, Maharashtra. 306 mothers with youngest child in age group of 4-24 months were included in the study. The information was collected by interviewing the mothers with the help of pretested, pre-designed proforma. Results: Out of these 306, 123 (40.2%) mothers offered various prelacteal feeds to their children. More number of illiterate mothers offered prelacteal feeds as compared to literate mothers. Significant number of mothers from joint families gave prelacteals as compared to mothers from nuclear families. 81 (62.79%) of 129 home delivered mothers practiced prelacteal feeding as compared to 42 (23.73%) of 177 hospital delivered mothers where chi square was significant. Prelacteal feeding was more prevalent in mothers of lower socioeconomic status than the upper one. Maximum i.e. 19 (15.45%) mothers gave cow’s milk as prelacteal feed followed by cow’s milk and honey (13.01%) and goat’s milk (10.57%). Conclusion: About 40% mothers followed prelacteal feeding which is a harmful practice. There is a need of health education, motivation, postnatal help to such mothers.