Assessment of knowledge and practices about breastfeeding and weaning among working and non-working mothers.

Objective: To assess the knowledge and practices of working and non-working mothers regarding breastfeeding and weaning.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involving working and non-working mothers was conducted from May 2015 to May 2016 at different hospitals of Karachi. Data was collected from women who had at least one child aged below 5 years and who had previously breastfed their child. Non-probability quota sampling technique was used. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis..

Results: Of the 414 participants, 207(50%) were non-working while 207(50%) were working mothers. The overall mean age was 29.6±6.3 years. Moreover, 277(66.9%) mothers breastfed their youngest child and a significant difference was observed among the breastfeeding practices of working and non-working mothers (p<0.05). Bottle-feeding was adopted by 320(77.9%) mothers as an alternative method although 259(62.6%) mothers were aware about the harmful effects of bottle-feeding. Home-made products were used for weaning by 389(94%) mothers.

Conclusions: Knowledge and practices regarding breastfeeding showed significant difference in most of the aspects between working and non-working mothers. As for weaning, both groups had the same knowledge and practices.