Expressed breast milk: Awareness and opinion on storage and utilization among mothers in tertiary health care center, Belagavi

Expressed breast milk: Awareness and opinion on storage and utilization among mothers in tertiary health care center, Belagavi

Reewen George D Silva
Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences, Belagavi, India

Introduction: For newborns and infants, breast milk is the best source of nutrition. To achieve optimal growth & development and health, the infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life [1, 2]. Various pieces of research show that the first time mothers and working mothers become a prey for formula feeds due to structural functional limitations.

Methodology: Cross sectional study was conducted by recruiting 200 subjects through Nonprobability purposive sampling from a tertiary health care center in Belagavi. A Gravid women between age group of 18-45 yrs attending IPD, OPD & follow up care and able to read & write were recruited. The data was collected post Institutional Ethical committee clearance and individual subject consent using a questionnaire. It constituted sections such as Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Opinion regarding EBM.

Results: The mean age of subjects 28.79 (± 7.02) years. About 119 (59.5%) have not heard about EBM. About 162 (81%) had no idea of storage. 50.2% expressed requirement of professional help. 117(57.9%) said that Expressing will increase the milk production. Opinion on acceptance and need, 126 (63%) were willing to donate EBM, 160 (80%) expressed a need for EBM Bank, 166 (83%) expressed need for availability at every hospital. However 159 (79.5%) said creating awareness and making it a reality is a need of the hour. A χ2 computed shows that there was a significant association with age p <0.032, religion p <0.001, educational level p<0.001, learned on usage of EBM p <0.001 and idea on how to store and utilize EBM p<0.001.

Discussion: A similar study which was conducted by Rai S. concluded that 36% of participants had adequate knowledge[3]. The study by Prabhu P et al also reported that the knowledge about methods of breast milk expression and storage was not satisfactory[4]. An educated woman had higher scores, which was also reported by Ekambaram M et al., [5] there was a significant difference among religion, age, educational level which was statistically significant, which might be attributed to social and multifactorial constraints.