Breast Feeding Practices and Newborn Care in Rural Areas: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

CONTEXT: Breastfeeding practices play an important role in reducing child mortality and morbidity. This study was aimed to describe the breastfeeding practices prevalent in rural areas. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study was to describe the breastfeeding and newborn care practices in rural areas and the secondary objective was to describe the factors affecting the initiation and duration of breastfeeding. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The study was conducted in primary health care center (PHC) that is attached to a medical college in Kengeri, rural Bangalore, Karnataka. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mothers with children who were 9 months old who came to the PHC for measles vaccination were included in the study and data was collected using the pre-tested questionnaire on breastfeeding and newborn practices. RESULTS: Our study shows 97% of the mothers initiated breastfeeding, 19% used pre lacteal feeds, 90% had hospital deliveries and 10% had home deliveries, and 50% used a house knife to cut the umbilical cord among home deliveries. CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasizes the need for breastfeeding intervention programs especially for the mother during antenatal and postnatal check-ups and practices like discarding the colostrum and early/late weaning are still widely prevalent and need to be addressed.