Publication:

Colostrum feeding practices and its determinants among urban and rural mothers in Kamrup, Assam, India

Background Colostrum is the first breast milk produced after birth and is important for promotion of health and prevention of infections of the newborn immediately after birth. Though the breastfeeding practices are well known to mothers but the necessity of colostrum feeding is still poorly understood especially by the mothers in rural areas due to various factors. The objective of the study was to find out the prevalence of colostrum feeding practices and its determinants among the urban and rural mothers of Assam, India.

Methods A cross sectional study was conducted from February-July 2014. The study was conducted by interviewing of 400 mothers having children of 0-23 months of age in both in rural and urban areas.

Results 21% of mothers in urban areas had discarded colostrum whereas in rural areas it was 29.5% .The association between colostrum feeding practices and age of the mothers (P<0.05), religion (P<0.05), type of families (P<0.05), educational status of the mothers (P<0.05), socioeconomic status (P<0.05), place of delivery (P<0.05), mode of delivery (P<0.05) were found to be significant.

Conclusions Colostrum feeding practices were lowers among rural mothers , low educational status, who had delivered at home and reasons behind the discard of colostrum were found to be eleder’s/relative advice, child could not digest and ignorance . Educating the mothers and the communities about the value of colostrum would help in ensuring that colostrum is not wasted but fed to the child.