Study of Infant Feeding Practices in Rural Area in Goa

Background: Suboptimal feeding practices during the infancy increase the risk of death, illness, and malnutrition. Despiteoverwhelming evidence of the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, only about 40% babies under 6 months are exclusivelybreastfed, due to the lack of understanding of optimal feeding practices and lack of support from health service providers,community members, and families; babies who are not exclusively breastfed in the early months have a higher risk of death,especially from infection. The Lancet’s 2003 child survival series identified that exclusive breastfeeding could save up to 1.3million children worldwide. This essential intervention involves the early initiation of breastfeeding and ensuring that the mothergives only breastmilk and no other food or fluids during the first 6 months of life. Undernutrition of children is an importantcontributor to the deaths of 10.5 million children globally each year.Aims and Objectives: The present study seeks to estimate the proportion of mothers carrying out age-appropriate infantfeeding practices. Besides, the present study was conducted to study factors associated with infant feeding practices andreasons preventing exclusive breastfeeding in infants.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted in the field practice area of Rural Health andTraining Centre, Mandur, Goa, from February 2019 to August 2019. Recruitment of study population was done by a systematicrandom sampling method and study population comprised of mothers with infants between 9 months and 1 year. A structuredquestionnaire was used to collect data in a face to face interview with the mother.Results: In the present study, 150 infants aged 9 months to 1 year were recruited. It was observed that exclusive breastfeedingup to 6 months was carried out in 94 infants (62.66%). Early initiation of breastfeeding was carried out in 37 infants (24.7%).Weaning of infants by 6 months was started in 72 infants (48.18%). Exclusive breastfeeding of infants was found to bestatistically significantly associated with mother’s occupation (≥2 = 27.152; P = 0.00019), religion (≥2 = 12.19; P = 0.015), andage (≥2 = 25.4; P = 0.0002).Conclusions: Suboptimal feeding practices during the infancy increase the risk of death, illness, and malnutrition. It is imperativeto educate mothers on infant and young child feeding practices and create awareness within communities to achieve optimalgrowth and development of infants.