Research Article
Breastfeeding Practices, Demographic Variables, and Their Association with Morbidities in Children
Table 1
Sociodemographic variables.
| Sociodemographic variable | Frequency |
| Age (years) of the mothers, mean (SD) | 27.18 (3.77), range: 19 to 42 years | Mother’s education less than 4th standard | 109 of 780 (13.97%) | Low birth weight children | 195 of 768 (25.4%) | Monthly family income less than Rs. 15000 | 570 of 765 (74.5%) | Multiparous mothers | 431 of 777 (55.5%) | Number of children who required hospitalization | 327 of 781 (41.9%) | Number of children who had diarrhea | 482 of 781 (61.7%) | Number of children who had cough-cold | 606 of 780 (77.6%) | Multifetal pregnancy | 17 of 778 (2.2%) | Number of mothers who had problems during breastfeeding during first 6 months after delivery | 120 of 771 (15.6%) | Family support for breastfeeding | 76 of 766 (10%) | Male gender | 476 of 780 (61%) | Bottle feeding | 142 of 771 (18.4%) | Employed women | 138 of 779 (17.7%) | Hindu religion | 653 of 779 (83.8%) | Started breastfeeding within 1st hour of delivery | 443 of 771 (57.5%) | Age of the child (of total 767) | | Less than 6 months | 60 (7.8%) | 6 months to 24 months | 420 (54.8%) | More than 24 months | 287 (37.4%) | Use of soap to wash hands for children more than 6 months before feeding | 404 of 687 (58.8%) | Washing utensils after each feed | 532 of 697 (76.3%) | Washing hand of mother before each feed for children more than 6 months age | 499 of 692 (72.1%) | Who feeds the child more than 6 months | | Mother | 600 (86.3%) | Other person | 95 (13.7%) | Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months in children more than 2 years | 160 of 286 (55.9%) | Breastfeeding stopped less than 2 years of age in children more than 2 years | 253 of 284 (89.1%) |
|
|