Impact of Maternal age and Parity on Exclusive Breast Feeding Practices

Abstract

Aim: To determine the impact of maternal age and parity on incidence of exclusive breast feeding practices in infants. Study Design: Cross sectional study Place and duration of study: Department of Pediatric medicine, University of Lahore Teaching Hospital Lahore from December 2020 till May 2021 Methodology: A Total of 231 mothers who were having children up till 1 year of age were registered for the study after ethical clearance. Verbal consent was taken from the mothers. Demographic details of the study population were recorded. The study population was interviewed with the help of predesigned questionnaire which included maternal age, parity and feeding practices. Confidentiality of data was ensured. All data was entered and analyzed using SPSS 23. Quantitative variables are presented as mean and standard deviation. Results: The study participants were between age range of 19 years to 37 years. Out of 231 mothers 145(62.8%) breastfed their babies of which 96(41.6%) were exclusively breastfeeding and 49 were either giving formula milk 28(4.8%) or fresh milk 11(4.8%). In addition, 86(37.2%) did not breastfed at all. There was no statistical difference in pattern of breast feeding with maternal age and parity, p-value more than 0.05 Conclusion: Importance of breastfeeding should be emphasized in antenatal and postnatal visits to mothers regardless of their age and parity Keywords: Breastfeeding, Maternal age, Parity