Ghulam Qasim Khan Knechi, Muhammed Saleem Channar, Ehsanullah Woraich, Shahid Nadeem Baiwa.
Patterns of Breast Feeding in Children Under two Years of Age in Bahawalpur.
Pak J Med Sci Jan ;17(2):94-8.

Objective: To find the patterns of breast feeding in children under two years of age in Bahawalpur. Design: An observational descriptive cross-sectional (prevalence) study. Subject & Setting: Two thousand five hundred mothers having children below two years of age attending Paediatric outpatient department in Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of breast feeding in children below two years of age in Bahawalpur. Results: Two thousand five hundred mothers were interviewed to find out patterns of feeding their children under two years of age. Colostrum was offered to 19.4% of newborns as first feed; 24.8% of mothers started breast feeding on the very first day while 4.2% did not breast feed at all. Majority of the women started breast feeding because of the family traditions. Eighty five percent of mothers continued breast feeding upto one year, 10% withdrew breast feeding before one year and 35% continued breast feeding their babies beyond infancy. Exclusive breast feeding prevalence was 30% with 25% at the age of b months. Five percent of mothers continued exclusive breast feeding` their children upto 1-2 years. Breast feeding prevalence was low in educated, urban and high socioeconomic class women. Conclusion: Prevalence of breast feeding is significantly high in women belonging to rural set up and among uneducated and low socioeconomic group women in Bahawalpur.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com