Weaning; knowledge and practices

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the awareness and practices regarding weaning in lactating mothers of infants. A cross sectional descriptive study. At pediatrics OPD in Ghurki Trust Teaching Hopsital, Lahore. From October to December 2007. A non probability convenience sampling was done to collect data from 50 mothers who were attending out patient department along with their infants on a pre-formed questionnaire. After gathering, data was analyzed and presented in the form of tables and graphs. In the present study, 66% mothers were in the age group of 20-29 years, all were house wives, 34% were matriculate and 72% lived in joint family system Mean age of weaning was 4-6 months in more than 64% of the sample. Among the women interviewed, 44% used home-made weaning diets, 30% used mixture of homemade and commercially prepared diets, while 16% used only commercially prepared diets. Breast feeding was continued during and after weaning, by 64% of respondents along with weaning diets. Mothers need to be educated about the importance of weaning, the recommended age of weaning and about the types of weaning food. This can be achieved by using lady health workers and lady health visitors and the mass media. Importance of breast feeding with weaning diet should be emphasized upon