Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Breastfeeding and Weaning Among Mothers of Children up to 2 Years Old in a Rural Area in El-Minia Governorate, Egypt

AIM: Was to describe the knowledge, attitude, and actual practices of mothers in a rural area in Egypt regarding breastfeeding, complementary feeding and weaning and to explore the effect of educational background and age on these views. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 307 rural mothers who have a youngest child aged 2 years or less. Mothers were selected using systematic random sampling. RESULTS: All the studied mothers knew that breastfeeding is the best nutritional source for the baby. The majority of the mothers had good knowledge about the advantages of breastfeeding for child. As regards weaning, majority (92.5%) of the mothers defined weaning as breastfeeding cessation. Most of the mothers (94.8%) agreed that breastfeeding protect child from infection, 96.1% agreed that it is the healthiest for infant, 76.5% agreed that breast milk lead to loss of figure, and 83.4% agreed that breastfeeding should be avoided during mother's illness. About 84% initiated breastfeeding immediately after delivery, and 42.7% of the studied mothers offered pre-lacteal feeds to baby before lactation. About thirty quarters (74.2%) of mothers fed colostrum. Exclusive breast-feeding was found to be associated with mother's education (P < 0.0001) but not with mother's age at birth, mother's occupation, or place of birth. CONCLUSION: There is a need for health care system interventions, family interventions, and public health education campaigns to promote optimal BF practices, especially in less educated women.