This work was designed to study the pattern of infant feeding in five governorates representing 3 regions of lower Egypt. The cross-sectional study comprised 280 infants attending the pediatric outpatient clinics in these governorates. About one third (36.4%) of the studied infants were young (<6 months in age). The majority of parents of these infants were non-educated and (76.4%) of their mothers were housewives.
The results showed that milk formula, food and drinks were introduced for (11.7%, 21.5% & 47.0% respectively) of young infants . The majority of mothers introduced food or drinks to their young infants by their own (18.6% and 44.1% respectively). The use of drinks was found to be significantly higher in Ismaelia than other regions (P < 0.05). About one third (30.3%) of mothers used pacifiers for their young infants by their own. The use of pacifiers was significantly higher in Alexandria and El-Behera region than Great Cairo ( 50.0% and 27.0% respectively ). On the other hand, bottles and teats were recommended for ( 11.8% ) of mothers in this study. About one third of mothers received informations about the benefits of continuing breast feeding (37.9%) and the proper time of complementary feeding (28.6%) through the health team of centers attended. Hence, we stress on strengthening of lactation management educational programs within the activities of primary health care centers to change faulty traditional beliefs regarding infant feeding practices. This necessitates in-job training of health team regarding new concepts of infant feeding.
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