Knowledge about breastfeeding in accordance with the national policy among doctors, paramedics and mothers in baby-friendly hospitals

Objective: To assess the knowledge about the National Breastfeeding Policy among paramedics, doctors and mothers in baby-friendly hospitals. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based survey was conducted at the Paediatrics and Obstetrics department of Civil Hospital, Karachi, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Liaquat National Hospital in May 2008. A questionnaire was developed which was based on National Breastfeeding Policy by the investigators after literature search. The respondents were mothers, doctors and paramedics. The questionnaire included demographic profile of participants and questions related to the National breastfeeding policy. Sampling was based on convenient method. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined. The investigators interviewed the participants and filled out the questionnaire after taking verbal informed consent. SPSS version 15.0 was used for data analysis Result: Total of 515 participants were interviewed which included 197 doctors, 99 paramedics and 218 mothers. The mean age (years) of mothers was 27.6 ± 7.06, doctors 29.96 ± 6.024, and paramedics 27.76 ± 9.106. A substantial majority of mothers, paramedics doctors agreed that breast milk is better than any formula milk. More than three-fourths of the doctors and paramedics responded that prelacteal feed should not be given in comparison to 64.7% of mothers. Nearly half of doctors and paramedics never attended any workshop or training programme on lactation management. Similarly, 63.7% mothers were not counseled for lactation during their antenatal visits. Conclusion: In this study doctors and paramedics are well aware of the recommendations of the National breastfeeding policy. But nearly two-thirds of the mothers were never educated for the management of the breastfeeding. This point towards the lack of implementation of the national policy on part of healthcare providers.