Breast feeding practices among rural mothers of Delhi.

Between October 1991 and September 1992, in six villages of the Najafgarh block in West Delhi, India, nursing students in community health interviewed 600 mothers aged 16-40 to determine the prevalence of breast feeding. 72.3% were 20-30 years old. All the women had breast fed their infants. The mean family size was 2.2. 52 (9%) had thrown away the colostrum because they believed it would harm their newborns and cause constipation, vomiting, and other gastrointestinal problems. Eight mothers threw out the colostrum because older women told them to, and without knowing its harmful or beneficial effects. 52.6% of the mothers began breast feeding within 6 hours. 22.7% began between 6 and 24 hours of delivery. Among the 47.4% of cases who delayed the first breast feed beyond 6 hours, 2.3%, 3%, 18.75%, and 37.3%, respectively, gave cow's milk, Ganga water, sugar solution, or honey as the first feed to their newborn. 28.7% of mothers were illiterate. Most mothers thought that breast feeding should continue as long as the child wants it. Women with three children were more likely to breast feed their third child for more than one year than primiparous women (22.6% vs. 5.2%). 81.6% thought that weaning should start before the infant reaches 6 months of age. Thus, most mothers understood the benefits of early weaning.