A cross sectional study of knowledge and attitude of breastfeeding among mothers of children up to 2 years attending immunization clinic in tertiary care teaching hospital of Southern Rajasthan, India

Background: The WHO recommends that infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months to achieve optimal growth, development, and health. NFHS-4, 28.4% children in Rajasthan are breastfed within 1 hour of birth and 58.2% are breastfed only for 6 months.Methods: This study was an institution-based cross-sectional study carried out on breast-feeding mothers having children up to 2 years of age who attended an immunization clinic of tertiary care teaching hospital of Jhalawar Medical College, Jhalawar Rajasthan. By the complete enumeration method, 240 participants were selected and included in our study during the study period that fulfilled our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: The present study revealed knowledge and attitude for breastfeeding among mothers having children up to 2 years old. 11.7% (28) of the participants had poor knowledge, 27.5% (66) of the mothers had average knowledge and 60.8% (146) of the study participants had good knowledge about breastfeeding. 47.5% of breastfeeding mothers revealed a positive attitude towards breast feeding. Significant associations were observed between knowledge and attitudes with mother’s age, age of child, mother’s education, and mother’s occupation. No significant association was found between parity of the mother and their knowledge of breastfeedingConclusions: Present study revealed more than half study participants was having good knowledge of breastfeeding but majority participant have poor attitude towards breastfeeding. There was significant association found between knowledge of mothers and their attitude regarding breast feeding.