Awareness regarding Breastfeeding among Pregnant Women attending Antenatal Clinic of Provincial Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Breastfeeding for six months and incorporating complementary feeding until the age of two is crucial for promoting child health and decreasing the chances of illness and death. Providing information about breastfeeding to expectant mothers during the prenatal period could have beneficial impact on both the mother and the baby. So this study aimed to determine the level of awareness among pregnant women concerning breastfeeding.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design and non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample. Face-to-face interviews were done among 100 pregnant women with a structured interview questionnaire for data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Chi-Square Test).

Results: The mean age of the respondents was 25.20+4.43 years. Among them more than half (57.0%) had a moderate level, 41.0% had a high level and 2.0% of respondents had a low level of awareness on breastfeeding. There was a significant association between age (p=0.004), occupation (p=0.020), and gravida (p=0.001) with the awareness level of the respondents regarding breastfeeding.

Conclusions: More than half of the antenatal women had a moderate level of awareness of breastfeeding. So the program should be developed and conducted for pregnant women to increase awareness regarding breastfeeding.