Breast-feeding and infant feeding practices in selected rural and semi-urban communities in Kemaman, Terengganu.

Abstract

A survey was carried out in the district of Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia to study infant feeding practices in rural and semi-urban communities. A total of 593 mothers were interviewed and their socio-demographic information recorded. Data on infant feeding practices were collected from mothers who had children up to 15 months of age. Among breast-feeding mothers (n =157), 42.0 % fed their babies for less than 3 months and 58.0% bottle fed for more than 6 months. Sixteen children were found to be fed on sweetened condensed milk with 62.5% of them for the first 3 months. Among those who breast fed their babies, 40.1% were found to have bottle fed at one time or another. The majority of breast feeding mothers belonged to the groups having incomplete primary schooling or completed primary education only and household income below RM600 per month. A substantial number of breast fed babies were given weaning foods in the form of porridge mixture (rice + egg, rice + vegetables, rice + meat, rice+ fish and cereals) between the age of 0 - 3 months. The findings of this study concluded that although breast-feeding is widely practiced, however, their duration has dwindled, and early introduction of solid foods is widespread.