Infant and young child feeding practices of mothers attending immunisation clinic at a tertiary care hospital of Lucknow

Background: Adequate infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices are essential to ensure optimal survival, health, growth, development and overall nutritional status of children. Objective: The objective of the present study was to assess the IYCF practices among mothers with children aged 0-23 months attending immunisation clinic at a tertiary care hospital of Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh. Materials and methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted at immunisation clinic, King George’s Medical University from January 2015 to September 2015. Systematic random sampling was used and a total of 240 mothers with children 0-23 months old attending immunisation clinic were interviewed with the help of pre-designed, pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Breastfeeding (BF) was initiated within one hour of birth in 18.3% of children. Early initiation of BF was significantly associated with educational and socioeconomic status of mother and type of delivery. Pre-lacteal feeds were given to 23.4% of the children, children born at government health facility and with birth order ≤2 received pre-lacteal feeds more often. Colostrum was given by 67.9% of the mothers. Children born at private institutions or home were more likely to receive colostrum (p< 0.05). The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding for at least 6 months was 53.8%. It was higher in children belonging to low socioeconomic group (p< 0.05). Complementary feeding was initiated at 6 months in 32.8% of children. Children of mothers belonging to upper socioeconomic Shukla M, Tyagi S, Agarwal M. Infant and young child feeding practices of mothers attending immunisation clinic at a tertiary care hospital of Lucknow. IAIM, 2016; 3(1): 58-66. Page 59 class, nuclear family and delivered at government institution through normal delivery were more likely to be started on timely complementary feeding (p<0.05). Conclusion: The study revealed that inadequate IYCF practices are still quite prevalent in the community and therefore emphasis should be given to IYCF education sessions.