Significance of Parental Education in Choosing Breast Milk for Infant Feeding at Diyala Province, Hospital- Based Study

Abstract

Background: exclusive breast feeding is recommended as the optimal way to feed infants especially for the 1st 6 month of life. While the overall breast feeding rate are high in the world all over, it is relatively uncommon among middle eastern women, there may be many factors affecting that. The objective of this study was to identify if the parental (maternal & paternal) education affect the using of breast feeding as the predominant way of infant feeding in people of Diyala province as a trial for discovering the factors affecting breast feeding practice in the society. Patient & method: This is a cross- sectional study conducted at Al- Batool Teaching Hospital for Maternity & Children from 1st of September 2011 – 1st of March 2012. Children of 1 yr old or less were included, a detailed feeding history & the level of education of both parents were taken. The sample was divided according to the type of feeding into 2 groups: predominantly breast fed babies & bottle fed babies, parental education level was divided into five classes. Analysis of data was done by using SPSS version 10, chi- square was applicated to find the association. Results: During the 6 month period of the study, 61 pairs of children were included, 61 of them were predominantly breast fed & the other 61 depended bottle feeding. Chance of breast feeding was increased with increasing of both maternal & paternal level of education, with p value of (0.07) & (0.011), respectively. Conclusion: Mother’s education may add something positive in their mind towards breast milk practice but it is not enough as a significant factor to encourage beast feeding. The state was different with father’s education, it significantly affect the decision to feed their babies breast milk.