Knowledge and Practice of Breast Feeding among Young Adult Women in Rural Tamil Nadu

The best gift of a mother to her baby is breast milk. The breast feeding practices vary among different regions. Hence the present cross sectional study was conducted among the rural young mothers to evaluate their knowledge about the advantages of breast feeding and to study their breast feeding and sanitary practices. This study was conducted among 150 women living in 9 villages of Bargur taluk who were selected using convenience sampling method with the inclusion criteria that they were 18 to 25 years old, married and having at least one 1 to 5 years old child. A pretested schedule was used to collect data regarding their general information, knowledge about breast feeding and their breast feeding and sanitary practices. Though all the selected rural mothers were having poor socio economic status, they had a good knowledge about the advantages of breast feeding and correct breast feeding practices. Because of the good sanitary habits of the mothers, their children did not suffer from any infectious diseases for the past fifteen days.