Perception of infant feeding practices among mothers-to-be an Urban-based school study

Abstract

This study on the perception of infant feeding practices was conducted among unmarried girls from two randomly selected Saudi public schools in Al-Khobar. Though it was encouraging to note that the attitude of the, girls was largely in favour of breast feeding, many deficiencies were identified in their knowledge of infant feeding. 67.1 % students were unaware of the importance of colostrum and 70.5% opted for scheduled feeding over demand feeding. To 40.2% girls an optimum duration of 18-24 months for breast Feeding was not desirable. A large proportion of students lacked knowledge on the methods of promoting lactation such as early suckling (51.4%), frequent suckling (40%) and "rooming-in" (37.9%). Only 28% of the girls knew the correct age of introducing solid food. With the present trend of decline in the duration of breastfeeding in Saudi Arabia, the schools could play an important role in training and motivating future mothers for proper infant feeding practices.