Vol. 7, Issue 3, Part C (2024)

Background: Breast milk is the ideal source of nutrients for infants, as a biological fluid required for a baby's optimal growth and development. The mother is the primary caregiver for a baby's physical and mental development; the mother's well-being, education, and attitudes towards childrearing play a crucial role in a child's health, so this study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of mothers regarding infant feeding in Basra city and determine the factors that influence the attitude and practices of mothers towards feeding.

Methods: This study was carried out from November 2022 until the end of March 2023 in four primary health centers to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of mothers regarding infant feeding in Basra city and determine the factors that influence the attitude and practices of mothers towards feeding in the first year of infant life.

Results: The result of this study showed that mother’s age at interval (20-24) years had the highest percentage (39%), (54%) with secondary education level, (85.5%) housewife mothers, (67.5%) was for multipara mothers, and (72%) delivered vaginally mothers. Also, the result showed reasons for stopping breastfeeding: mothers who felt that breast milk was inadequate had the highest percentage (43.9%), and the highest percentage (16.6%) was answers that breast milk keeps the child healthy when asked about the benefits of breastfeeding. Based on knowledge scores about advantages of breastfeeding, 70% of the respondents had poor knowledge scores, while 81% had a positive attitude. The result showed a significant relationship between education level, occupation, and total knowledge score of mothers towards advantages of breastfeeding at levels (0.005, 0.001) sequentially.

Conclusion: Most participant mothers in this study demonstrated poor knowledge and a positive attitude towards breastfeeding, and about practices most mothers were colostrum given to their babies. The main reason for stopping breastfeeding for most mothers was they felt that breast milk was inadequate. There is an association between educational level, occupation of mothers, and total knowledge score at P value <0.05.