Assess the Knowledge of Breastfeeding and Identify Barriers to Early Initiation of Breastfeeding among Postnatal Mothers Admitted in Synod Hospital, Durtlang, Aizawl, Mizoram

Abstract

Introduction: Knowledge of breastfeeding among postnatal mothers is essential in today’s world. Breastfeeding prevents severe illness such as neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and safeguard from disease especially on newborn babies.

Title of the study: Assess the knowledge of breastfeeding and Identify Barriers to Early Initiation of Breastfeeding Among Postnatal Mothers Admitted in Synod Hospital, Durtlang, Aizawl, Mizoram.

Objective: To assess knowledge of breastfeeding among postnatal mothers. To identify barriers to early initiation of breastfeeding among postnatal mothers. To find out the time of initiation of breastfeeding among postnatal mothers. To find out the association between knowledge regarding breastfeeding among postnatal women.

Methodology: The sampling technique employed in this study was a non-probability consecutive sampling method. The sample of this study comprise of 50 postnatal mothers admitted at Synod Hospital, Durtlang. Questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge of breastfeeding and semi-structured interview was used to identify barriers in breastfeeding.

Result: The data were analysed to find out the level of knowledge and barriers to early initiation of breastfeeding. The study shows that most of the mothers have adequate knowledge. From the Chi-Square test, it shows that there is a significant association between the level of knowledge regarding breastfeeding among postnatal mothers and selected demographic variables like Education and Number of live births. The most common barriers to breastfeeding were that most of the babies were given pre-lacteal feeds due to insufficient breastmilk, inverted nipples and engorged breast. Some of the mothers did not know when to breastfeed their child because they were not told about the time of breastfeeding during antenatal checkup, and they were not assisted by the staff nurse within 1 hour after delivery.

Conclusion: It is important to encourage breastfeeding rather than pre-lacteal feeds so as to improve secretions of mother’s milk and mother-child bonding.