Comparation of knowledge, attitude and social support of exclusive breastfeeding between primiparae and multiparae after delivery within 6 months in Changsha, China: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: The knowledge, attitude, and social support of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers are the important predictors of the starting time of lactation and the duration time of breastfeeding. Evaluating the knowledge, attitude, social support of exclusive breastfeeding of mothers is critical to recognize those at risk for suboptimal breastfeeding practices. There were a small amount of studies related to knowledge, attitude and social support of mothers, a blank for comparative study of the knowledge, attitude, social support of breastfeeding between primiparae and multiparae existed. Our aim was to compare the feeding situation between firstborns and second-born infants, and to compare the knowledge, attitude, and social support between primiparae and multiparae. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study, a total of 354 mothers of infants aged 0–6 months who underwent physical examination between February 2019 and July 2019 were randomly recruited to the study and finished an on-site questionnaire. Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test were used to make a comparison among groups. RESULTS: The average rate of exclusive breastfeeding among infants aged 0–6 months was 61.30%. There is no statistical difference between the firstborns and the second-born infants regarding whether cod liver oil was supplemented, whether it was breastfeeding after birth, the signal of breastfeeding for infants, and the duration of each lactation (P>0.05); The rate of exclusive breastfeeding of second-born infants was lower than that of firstborns (P=0.001); The starting time of breastfeeding of second-born infants was earlier than that of firstborns (P=0.041). Compared to primiparae, multiparae had a higher degree of understanding of feeding knowledge (P<0.001), a higher proficiency level of self-evaluation of feeding techniques (P<0.001); and a better self-evaluation of feeding habit (P<0.001); more multiparae had prenatal feeding counselling (P<0.001); primiparae and multiparae had no statistical difference in attitude and social support of breastfeeding (all P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Breastfeeding knowledge, skills, and habits of mothers all need to be improved. It’s urgent to make up for the deficiency of news media such as television and radio in the dissemination of breastfeeding knowledge. Primiparas with a high level of education are the key object of our publicity and education.