Abstract

Hajipur, a remote village in the Katihar Block of Katihar District inhabited mainly by the poor, largely uneducated and underserved population.The backwardness of the village was the reason for selecting it for study.

Objectives: Learn the feeding practices of infants and develop strategies by engaging with the different stakeholders to reduce it and gradually eliminate the harmful practices.

Material and Methods: 50 children between the age group 6 month to 2 years by random sampling.

Results: Two thirds of the teen aged mothers had initiated breast feeding within the first day as compared to half in the 20-25 and 61% in 25-30 age groups. Half the illiterate mothers put their child to the breast within the first two hours of delivery as compared to 36% of the literate women. Two thirds of the women delivered at home and less than a third (30%) of the deliveries was conducted in the government institutions with only one (2%) in the district hospital. Pre lacteal feed were given in 29 (58%) of the infants.

Discussion: Out of 9 teen age mothers only 2 (22%) mothers who delivered before 18 years. Seven (78%) of the teen age mothers delivering after 18 years especially in a remote, backward society should definitely be looked as a healthy step. The teen age mothers initiated breast feeding early. Literate mothers showing reluctance to breast feeding is catching up in the remote areas also but the disturbing fact is that those breast feeding their infants are delaying bringing their infants to their breasts. This is a disturbing trend which should be reversed. Not only our joint families are collapsing but the entire rich heritage which was passed down the generations is also being lost or going in oblivion. Such a low percentage of institutional deliveries, less than a third, does not speak well about the outreach of the national programme where the government is trying to provide all the facilities including financial incentives. The feeding of the infants is far from satisfactory especially amongst the illiterate women. The issue if not addresses properly will lead to malnutrition which in a poor society will have serious long term consequences as infections are common and will have its toll on growth and nutrition and may even effect cognition and school drop outs.

Conclusion: The delivery of services especially their outreach as well as the acceptance by the community is not to the desirable level. Even the institutional deliveries are low. The age of delivery is rising which is a healthy trend but the traditional healthy feeding practices are going down. Engagement with the various stakeholders in the community is needed to improve the infant feeding practices

Keywords: Infant feeding practices, pre lacteal feeding, initiation of breast feeding.