Subrat Kumar Pradhan1, Udayana Nayak2, Samyak Sahu3, Alok Ranjan Panda4, Jasmin Nilima Panda5
BACKGROUND
Early initiation of breast feeding implies putting the newborn baby to the mother’s
breast as soon as possible after delivery, preferably within one hour. Colostrum or
‘first milk’ which is secreted soon after birth helps build nutrient stores in the child
and is rich in protective immunoglobulins for the child. Early initiation helps the
child to learn suckling fast leading to early secretion of breast milk. We intended
to find out the determinants of early initiation of breast feeding.
METHODS
This is a cross-sectional study conducted from May to August 2019 in a tertiary
care hospital. The sample size was 400. The study population consisted of mothers
who delivered healthy term newborns in the obstetrics and gynaecology (O & G)
ward of the hospital. Interview of the mothers was done using a predesigned and
pretested questionnaire. Data entry was done on Microsoft Excel and analysis was
done on Epi Info 7.
RESULTS
Mean age of the study participants was 25.66 ± 4.228. Majority of the respondents
came from rural areas (61.25 %) and were homemakers (63.5 %). More than half
the respondents had either middle or secondary school education. Previous
information, mode of delivery, type of family, father’s and mother’s education and
mother’s occupation were significant determinants of early initiation of
breastfeeding (EIBF).
CONCLUSIONS
The above study reveals some determinants of the practice of EIBF and efforts
are needed in order to address these determinants, to improve this practice,
especially in a tertiary care setup.
