Effect of natal care services on breastfeeding practices in urban and rural areas of lucknow

Introduction: Approximately 80% of maternal and infant death could be averted if pregnant women and newborns had access to basic healthcare services, says UNICEF, State of the World’s Children Report 2009. The place of delivery has an influence on whether the child has been exclusively breastfed or not. Many studies confirm the positive role of institutional deliveries on the Breastfeeding practices. Objective: Natal care services utilization by urban and rural population of Lucknow and it’s association with Breastfeeding practices. Materials and Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was carried out in rural and urban areas of Lucknow. Multistage random sampling was used. A pre designed & pretested questionnaire was used and house to house survey was done. 528 infants with their mothers as respondent were interviewed and information about their socio-demographic factors, natal care services utilization and breast feeding practices were collected. Results: Out of total 528 respondents, (46% ) delivered at Govt. hospital. Most of them (73.9%) delivered by normal vaginal delivery and (48.3%) of delivery was conducted by Doctor. Initiation of breastfeeding within 1 hr, Colostrum feeding and Exclusive breastfeeding were significantly higher in Government hospitals. These practices were also significantly associated with normal vaginal delivery and delivery conducted by ANM/Nurse.(P-value <0.001). Conclusion and Recommendation: Natal care services play a pivotal role in determining breast feeding practices. Breast feeding is the single most cost effective intervention for good health in childhood.