Awareness of Safe Feeding Practices among Expecting and New Indian Mothers: A Survey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2024.v09.n01.022Keywords:
Breastfeeding, Child, Complementary feeding, Infant, Mothers, NutritionAbstract
The government of India has been conducting focused programs for ensuring child and maternal nutrition, health, and well-being. A major mission in this regard is creating public awareness of importance of adequate nutrition from early on. Medical professionals have also compiled scientific recommendations that guide parents toward the timelines and type of foods to be fed in the first 24 months. However, from various research publications, child mortality rate secondary to pneumonia and obesity continues to be a major concern in India. One possible reason could be the actual household feeding practices. This study aimed to verify the understanding of pediatric feeding guidelines among expectant and new Indian mothers. Two close-ended multiple-choice questionnaires were developed and validated for expecting and new mothers. Responses were obtained from 100 participants through social media platforms using snowball paradigm. Response analysis revealed that understanding of breastfeeding guidelines was better compared to complementary feeding. While timeline-related questions received more accurate responses, most participants responded inaccurately towards safety and strategy-related information. Perceptions on feeding methods were different across the two participant groups. Developmentally normal behaviors such as gagging were considered as problem behavior by both groups. Interestingly, safety concerns were better identified by expecting mothers than new mothers. The results implied that public awareness programs need to broaden the focus from breastfeeding to include methods, strategies, and safety of complementary feeding for adequate nutrition and health. The guidelines developed in this regard need to be effectively communicated to the public for better impact on social health.
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