Knowledge Attitude And Practice Of Egyptian Mothers Breast Feeding:

Mohammad Osama El Sayed Ahmed

-2I7-SUMM:ARYIn an attempt to clarify the practices of breastfeedi,ngamong Egyptian mothers and thier determinants. athousand and two mothers who have given birth to childrenand passing the first three to six months after deliverywere studied concerning their social and biological status.their knowledge, attitude and practice towards breastfeeding, their affective trait and finally the attitude oftheir husbands towards breast feeding. The above criteriawere studied and correlated to the pattern of feeding. Itwas found that1- Two main patterns of breast feeding were recognized.the first was those mothers who practiced breast feedingalone or with some solid food supplementations other thanmilk for at least the first six months of their infants’age ”exclusive breast feeding”, the second was thosemothers who introduced artificial milks with their breastmilk before their infants reached the age of six months”mixed feeding”. The exclusive group represented 60% of thestudied sample. while the mixed group represented theremaining 40%.11- Most of the rural mothers were exclusive breastfeeders (64.5%). while a considerable percentage of urbanmothers were mixed feeders (48%).-218-111- Biological score of the mother correlatedsignificantly with the pattern of feeding. The higher thebiological score. the more the practice of exclusive breastfeeding and the less the introduction of artificial milks(Biological score 25.5±3.7, 24.3 ±4 exclusive and mixedrespectively PCO.05).1V- Social score of the studied mothers were found tobe significantly lower in mothers practicing exclusivebreast feeding (12.8±5.1) than that of mothers introducingartificia1 mi lks (14±4.5) ”PC0.005”.V- Score of knowledge among the studied mothers did notcorrelate with the pattern of feeding (82.2±13.8. 80± 12.2exclusive and mixed respectively P)0.05)V1- Score of practice of the exclusive breast feederswas significantly higher than the score of the mothers usingartificial milks (57.7±9.5.49.9± 10.4 exclusive and mixedrespectively PCO.001).V11- Score of attitude of the mothers towards breastfeeding was found to correlate with the pattern of feeding.The more the positive attitude towards breast feeding, themore the practice and vice versa (4±3.2, 3.4±3.1 exclusiveand mixed respectively PCO.01).V111- The attitude of the father towards breast feedingwas (ound to have no significant correlation to the patternof feeding (7.1±3.7. 7.5±3.8 exclusiv~mixed respectivelyP)O .05) .-2I9-IX- The relation of the affective trait of the studiedmothers to the pattern of feeding showed that, thepercentage of high score of hysteria, anxiety andpsychosomatic disorders among mothers who introducedartificial mi lks (21.7%, 28.2%, 41.3% respectively) washigher than among exclusive breast feeders (7.8%, 18.2%, 37%respectively). On the other hand, the percentage of highscore of obsession, phobia and depression among, exclusivebreast feeders (42.2%, 40.3%, 57.1% respectively) was higherthan among those who introduced artificial milks (34.8%,26.1%, 47.8% respectively).x- The impact of pattern of feeding on growthparameters was also studied and it was found that, childrenwho ,”’erebreast fed were superior to those who wereartificially or mixed fed as:1- Weight: Babies with mixed feeding lost 18 percentiles ofweight for age (from 45 to 27) from birth till age of sixmonthe:, while those who were breast fed gained 13percentiles of weight for age throughout the same period(from 55 to 68) .2- Length: Babies with mixed feeding lost 10 percentiles oflengttlfor age (from 50 to 40) from birth till age of sixmonths, while breast fed babies gained about 8 percentilesof length for age throughout the same period.3- He,oldcircumference: The change in head circumference wasrmnimel, as mixed-fed babies lost about 8 percentiles of-220-head circumference for age (from 43 to 35) from birth tillage of six months. while breast-fed babies maintained thesame percentile of head circumference for age throughout thesame period.