Khalid Hasan, Salman Ahmad, Waqas Tariq, Zeeshan Zafar.
Patterns of Breast-feeding and weaning, their effects on physical growth and awareness of mother about Child`s nutrition in children of weaning age
J Rawal Med Coll Jun 2005;9(1):18-21.
Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad

Background: To describe the patterns of breast-feeding and weaning, mothers awareness about child`s nutrition and to study the effects of complete and partial weaning on general body growth viz. height, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) of inpatient children of weaning age (4 months to 2 years). Methods: In this study 247 children were studied at the Department of Paediatrics, Holy Family Hospital and Rawalpindi General Hospital. Questions about demographic data, weaning age, weaning food, awareness of mother and physical growth of child were sought on a structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using mean and "t" test. Results: Mean weaning age of children was 4.95±1.19 months postpartum, with 79%) children weaning between 4 to 6 months. Commercially prepared food supplements, rice, fruits and biscuits were major solid food administered during weaning age. Gauged on self categorized -scale, only 17.41% mothers were found "highly aware" about their child`s nutrition while 52.63% were "fairly aware" and 29.96% "poorly aware" about child`s nutrition, with mean points of 3.2±0.7 (fair awareness). Main sources of information for mothers about breast-feeding and weaning were previous experience (69.6%) and informal support (17.4%) while formal support accounted for only 13% cases. A significant difference was found between mean BMI of partially weaned and completely weaned children (p<0.02). Conclusions: Most mothers (4/5th) wean their children in recommended age. Awareness of mothers about child`s nutrition is less and formal support in this regard is limited, which should be increased. Body Mass Index (BMI) of partially weaned children is more than completely weaned children, which shows the importance of breast-feeding in this age group.

Category: Pediatrics
Keywords: Breast Feeding. Weaning. Breast.

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