Hamzullah Khan, Balqis Afridi.
Breast feeding practices in urban in rural areas of Peshawar.
Ann Abbasi Shaheed Hosp Karachi Med Dent Coll Jan ;12(1):44-8.

Objectives: Breastfeeding is superior to formula feeding because it has specific and non-specific factors that have long-term consequences for early metabolism and disease later in life. Present study was designed as to determine breast-feeding practices in urban and rural setup of Peshawar. Methods: A descriptive observational study was conducted in Palusi village (rural area) and Khyber teaching hospital Peshawar (urban area), from September 2005 to august 2006.Respondents was selected through stratified random sampling method. A total of 200 urban (100) and rural (100) women were selected. Of those we received complete set of information`s from 80 urban and 60 rural women and they were further studies. Relevant information`s were recorded from the respondents with the help of a pre-designed questionnaire. Results: Seventy percent of the urban and 83.33% of the rural women breast-fed their infants. Mixed breast-feeding and bottle-feeding recorded in (urban 22.5%, rural 11.67%). While bottle-feeding was recorded in (urban 7.5%, rural 5%) cases. Breastfeeding was initiated within first hour of birth (urban 66.25%, rural 51.66%), within 12 hours (18.75%, 23.33%) and after 24 hours (3.75%, 13.33%) cases. Exclusive breast-feeding was given to children for 4-6 month (urban 60%, rural 55%), for 6-8 month in (12.5%, 40%) and for less than three months in (27.5%, 21.66%) of the respondents. Complete two years breast feeding was given to children (urban 51%, rural 73.33%), and up to 6 months or less than that in (urban 10%, rural 3%) of the respondents. Weaning was started at 4-6 month age of the infants in (urban 76.26%, rural 81.66%) and at three months or below in (urban 8.75%, rural 3.33%). The distribution of reasons for not breast-feeding in urban and rural areas was: insufficient milk (70,63%, 63%), weakness (15%, 9.09%), job/student (urban 10%, rural 0%), and other problems not explained by the mother (5%, 27.72%). Conclusions: The breastfeeding rates urban were 70% and 87% in rural women. In rural setup initiation of feeding is slow. Urban women breast-fed their babies exclusively for up to 6 months while it shows variations in the rural setup. Furthermore rural women preferably give total breast-feeding to their children for two years duration. Main reason for not breastfeeding in both urban and rural areas is their complaint of insufficient milk.

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