[Patterns of breastfeeding in infants]

ABSTRACT

Successful breastfeeding is the result of right patterns of breastfeeding. This research aimed to study the patterns of breastfeeding in infants in Ray health centers. This is a descriptive study. The cluster random sampling [CRS] technique was used to select 400 mothers who had children under one year. Data were gathered using a questionnaire. Validity of the questionnaire was evaluated using content validity and reliability was determined using test-pretest method. Statistical analysis was carried out using statistical package for social sciences [SPSS]. The results showed that 34.5% of mothers breastfed their children exclusively for 6 months. In 58.7% of the samples, the first contact between mother and child was made in less than 2 hours. 95.2% of children were started their first feeding with colostrums and 59% of mothers fed their children with Manna and 54% with sugary water and 39.5% gave them water. 81.5% of children were breastfeed on demand and 18.5% of them were feed two to four times a day. There was no significant relationship between parent's knowledge, child's sex, parent's age, child's rank in the family and child's race with breastfeeding [P>0.05]. The results showed that the mothers had wrong beliefs, low knowledge and inappropriate practice on breastfeeding