Infant feeding practices.

Abstract

This study was done on a population of 877 mothers over a five month period. Interviews were held on the first day after delivery and on the day of discharge. Mothers were questioned on their infant feeding practice and on the influences which led them to their choice of feed types. Follow up studies were done in subsequent months on randomly selected populations of breast feeders (103) and bottle feeders (170) to determine duration of breast feeding after discharge from hospital; the factors contributing to cessation of breast feeding; the measure of satisfaction with the brand initially chosen and the factors which caused mothers to change from one brand to another. The salient finding is that 36% breast feed initially and that up to 10% of the total are still doing so five months later. The other findings are discussed and their significance stated.