Assessment of Mother's Knowledge about NewbornBreast-Feeding

Abstract

Objectives: to identify the knowledge of the mother about the newborn health and breast feeding.

Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted on the mother's knowledge about the newborn breast feeding, for the period of Dec. 11th (2010) to March 21st (2011), at Al-Zahra Najaf-Teaching hospital, Thirty mothers (30) with their newborns were interviewed randomly at the hospital using questionnaire formats to collect the fulfillment data of the involved sample at age grouped between (19 to 42 years).

Results: The study showed that the most age-group affected was (19-26) years (36.7%); (93.3%) of mothers were occupied; most of them (66.7%) were rural residents with primary level of education (40%).

Conclusion: The mother's knowledge were rare about the newborn's breast feeding (66.7%); and most of them were young.

Recommendations: A mass media survey must be hold in Iraq as a teaching program for mothers during the prenatal and postnatal periods.