Factors Affecting Knowledge And Practice towards Breastfeeding in Women Who Have Recently Delivered in Duhok City

Abstract

Background: Breastfeeding has been found to have a positive influence on a child's health even after 12 months of postpartum. The World Health Organization and United Nation Children Fund recommend a continued breastfeeding for up 2 years or beyond. Breastfeeding is widely known for its benefits to both mother and infant. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factors that affect breastfeeding knowledge and practice of women who recently delivered in Duhok city. Method: A cross-sectional study, using a self-administered questionnaire among women who attended Duhok Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology between 14 November 2021 and 14 February 2022. All the participants were women aged 18-40 years. Result: All the participants were married women and multiparas ≥2 babies, aged 18-40 years with mean age of 29.22±5.6, more than one third (38.5%) was below 30 years old, and (33.5%) were having primary school educational levels. The women knowledge about breastfeeding in all of 400 recruited women were good in (91%) of them with a positive practice in (58.8%). The most common factors for discontinuing breastfeeding completely before 2 years in the previous deliveries were "insufficient breast milk production" in (36%), "felt it was the time to stop" in (34.3%), and "became pregnant or wanted to become pregnant again" was in (24.8%) of the study sample. The relation between the mode of delivery and women’s practices toward breastfeeding was a highly significance (P= 0.001). Conclusion: The most common barriers or factors responsible for stopping breastfeeding were the “felt it was time to stop" as lactating factors and "insufficient breast milk production" as psychological factor. Breastfeeding knowledge and practice were found to be modifiable factors that affect breastfeeding. The vast majority of the study sample had good knowledge about breastfeeding, with positive practices toward breastfeeding in half of the study sample