Muhammed Khalil, Junaid Rashid, Mallik M Nazir Khan, Ahmed Zaheer.
Assessment of knowledge and practice regarding weaning among mothers of infants 4-12 months of age in a semi urban population.
Pak Paed J Jan ;29(1):9-14.

Objectives: To assess the knowledge and weaning practices of mothers of infants in the Shah Di Khohi, Lahore. Design: Cross sectional study. Place of study: Shah Di Khohi, Lahore. Material and methods: For a period of 6 months 300 mothers were identified having infants aged 4 months to 1 year. One hundred mothers were selected by systematic random sampling who were interviewed and observed for weaning practices in the area of Shah Di Khohi, Lahore. Their education and socio-economic status was also recorded. Results: A total of 100 mothers of infants aged 4 months to 1 year were interviewed for weaning practices. Twenty four percent were house wives and 78% were working women. Those who Commercial formulae were used by 58% and 20% used home made foods for weaning. Working Women (97%) started weaning at 6 months and 45% house wives started weaning at 4-6 months. Thirty nine percent of the mothers gave weaning diet for improving growth while 27% gave it as a tradition. Conclusions: It was concluded that weaning practices were not adequate due to a number of reasons, including poverty, poor educational status of mother and lack of knowledge about how, when and what to give. Breastfeeding practices were also not optimal.

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