Abstract

AbstractBackground: the value of breastfeeding is unquestionable for health and development of infant and in this country ,the frequency of breastfeeding is supposed to be high for cultural and religious causes.Objectives: to determine the frequency of different feeding patterns of infants in Diwaniya ,to assess the reasons behind practicing bottle feeding and to document the protective effects of breastfeeding against the most common infections.Materials and methods: during the periods of March 15th,2008 to April 20th,2009; 1000 mothers attending the maternity and children teaching hospital in Diwanyia were randomly chosen and interviewed .Information regarding the feeding pattern were collected.Results: six hunderd and forty seven mothers feed their infants from bottles(64.7%) compared to 353 infants (35.3%)who were breast fed.forty five percent of infants(237) below the age of six months were bottle fed .The frequency of hospitalization was three times more frequent among bottle fed infants. The most common causes of reliance upon bottle feeding were a thought of inadequete breast milk followed by busy mothers and then caesarain section delivery. Conclusion: the frequency of bottle feeding in the study population was surprisingly high and the causes are unjustifiable.

The article was added to IASJ on 2012-08-01

236 Total full text downloads since the date of addition