Expressed Breastfeeding: Knowledge and Attitude of Postnatal Women

Abstract Introduction  Breastfeeding is the most valuable thing that mother can offer to her child. Breast milk provides all the necessary nutrients that are necessary for the overall growth and development of the infant. Mothers can continue feeding their infants with expressed breast milk even if they have to get separated from the child for any reasons. Expressed breastfeeding is a less used option by mothers due to multiple reasons. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding expressed breastfeeding among postnatal women. Methodology  A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The nonprobability convenience sampling technique was adopted to select 80 postnatal women. A self-developed pretested knowledge questionnaire and structured attitude scale was used to collect the data from postnatal women. Result  Majority of postnatal women (73.8%) were in the age group of 21 to 30 years, 36.3% were with gravida and Para 2, 33.8% were having two children and most of them, 81.3%, were homemakers, and 66.3% were not practiced expressed breastfeeding. Satisfactory level of knowledge regarding expressed breastfeeding was found among 41.3%, while 40% had average knowledge. The mean knowledge score was 7.7 ± 4.20 with a maximum score of 15. Attitude toward expressed breastfeeding was unfavorable among 55 (68.75%) of the postnatal women, while 25 (31.25%) women had the favorable attitude. The mean attitude score was 46.96 ± 6.11 with a maximum possible score of 70. There was significant correlation between knowledge and attitude score with p -value is 0.03. The chi-squared computed between knowledge score and demographic variables revealed that there is significant association between knowledge score and age of postnatal women. Conclusion  The knowledge level was satisfactory among one-third of participants, but it was not adequate among the majority of participants. Attitude was not very favorable that indicates motivation of postnatal women by health workers is in very much need.