INTRODUCTION:

Today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders. They form 38% to 40% of our general population. In the first year of life, infants undergo periods of rapid growth when good nutrition is crucial.¹ In fact, nutrition in the early years of life is a major determinant of healthy growth and development throughout childhood and of good health in adulthood. From an average weight of 3 kilos at birth, baby's weight increases almost to 5 kilos, at the end of 3 months. In fact, from birth to 1 year is the time of fastest growth for the baby. Milk alone cannot fully meet the baby's needs and sustain this rapid rate of growth.² After 6 months, breast milk does not provide all the nutrients that your growing baby needs, in particular iron and calories that solid foods provide. For other sources of nourishment, you should try to gradually introduce semi-solid or solid foods to your baby.

Hence weaning provides your child a nutritional balance for proper growth and development. Solid food is needed to provide your baby with enough important nutrients like iron.³Also, giving solid food from around six months is important for learning to chew and accept different tastes and textures. Recent studies have highlighted some unfavorable dietary practices among Asian infants in the UK. A number of reasons for such nutritional patterns have been suggested.⁴In the present study, attitudes, beliefs and expectations of 100 first-generation Muslim Asian mothers regarding infant feeding practices were explored through group discussions in their mother tongue.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1 To assess the knowledge among primi-mothers regarding weaning practices.

2 To find the association between knowledge regarding weaning practices and selected demographic variables among primi-mothers.

MATERIALS AND METHOD:

A descriptive research design was adopted. Data was collected from selected primi mothers in selected community areas at Bangalore. This study was conducted in selected community area in Bangalore. The population of the study comprises of primi mothers in selected community areas at Bangalore. The total sample of the study consists of 20 mothers. The researcher used simple random sampling technique to draw the sample. A structured Questionnaire is drafted for this purpose and the relevant data was collected. The tool consist of part 1 and part 2. The part 1 had demographic variables such as age of mother, type of family, education of mother, education of husband, occupation of mother, occupation of husband, type of house. The part 2 consists of structured knowledge questionnaire on weaning practices.

RESULTS:

Distribution of demographic variables among respondents.

The table-1 depicted age of the respondent, where majority of respondents 12(60%) belong to 25-35, majority of respondents 16(80%) belong to nuclear family, majority of respondents 8(40%) have primary education, majority 7(35%) respondents have study upto PUC, majority 4(40%) respondents are daily wages and private workers, Majority 7(35 %) respondents are businessmen, 18(90%) respondents live in pucca house.

The table-2 revealed that the majority of respondents (45%) have adequate knowledge.

Table – 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of respondents. N=20

Variables	Frequency	Percentage
1. Age
18-25	08	40
25-35	12	60
2. Type of family
Nuclear	16	80
Joint	4	20
Extended	00	00
3. Education of mother
Primary	8	40
Secondary	0	00
PUC	4	20
Graduate	4	20
Post graduate	4	20
4. Education of husband
Primary	6	30
Secondary	3	15
PUC	7	35
Graduate	3	15
Post graduate	1	05
5. Mother ’s occupation
Daily wages	8	40
Govt	00	00
private	8	40
Business	00	00
House wife	4	20
6. Husband's occupation
Daily wages	4	20
Govt	5	25
private	4	20
Business	7	35
7. Type of house
pucca	2	10
kuchha	18	90
Semi pucca	00	00

Table-2: Distribution of respondents on knowledge level on weaning practices.

Knowledge level	Category	Respondents
Knowledge level	Category	Frequency	Percentage
Inadequate	≤ 50 % score	3	15
Moderately adequate	51-75%	8	40
Adequate	>75%	9	45
Total		20	100%

Table-3: Association between knowledge scores with selected demographic variables.

Demographic variable	Categories	knowledge score of respondents	Chi-square value	df		p-value	Inference
Age	15-25	8	3.413	1	>0.05		NS
	25-35	12
Type of family	Nuclear	16	5.00	2	<0.05		S
	Joint	4
	extended	00
Mother's education	Primary	8	5.286	4	<0.05		S
	Secondary	0
	puc	4
	Graduate	4
	PG	4
Husband's education	Primary	6	3.49	4	<0.05		NS
	Secondary	3
	puc	7
	Graduate	3
	PG	1
Mother's occupation	Daily wages	8	2.167	4	<0.05		NS
	govt	0
	Private	8
	Business	0
	housewife	4
Husband's occupation	Daily wages	4	1.82	3	<0.05		NS
	Govt	5
	private	4
	business	7

χ²(0.05, 1 df) =3.841

The above table revealed that the association of level of knowledge with selected demographic variables, where type of family and mother’s education was found to be significant and age, husband education, mother occupation, husband occupation was found to be non-significant at 0.005 level of significance.

DISCUSSION:

Majority of respondents (45%) have adequate knowledge on weaning practices. Similarly a cross-sectional study was conducted in D and E blocks of Alma Iqbal Medical College, residential colony of Lahore among total 50 mothers of infants between 6-12 months of age to assess the weaning practices under different socio-economic and demographic variables. Self-administered questionnaire was used to assess feeding and weaning practices. Forty two (84%) infants were receiving weaning foods in addition to milk. Recommended age (6 months) was noticed in 42 cases (84%), while delayed weaning was seen in 8 (16%). Timely weaning was noticed in breastfed infants, 34 (70%).⁵A descriptive study was conducted in 7 villages of Narayanganj district, Bangladesh among 242 mothers to assess their knowledge and attitude regarding breastfeeding and weaning using pretested questionnaires. Although 83.5% mothers knew that colostrum is good for the child, less than 8 % of them gave it as the first food to their babies. Most mothers did not have the correct knowledge about exclusive breastfeeding and the appropriate time for introduction of weaning foods; and only 3% of them knew how to prepare proper weaning foods. The mean score of knowledge score of the mothers was only 4±1.7 out of 10, indicating the need for nutrition education in this area.⁶

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. A similar study with large number of sample involving many community areas can be undertaken.

2. A comparative study on weaning practices among urban and urban community may be done.

3. A similar study on video assisted teaching can be done among antenatal mothers on weaning practices.

CONCLUSION:

The study suggest the practices of weaning should be encouraged among the primi mothers. There needs a big role for the antenatal mother to be educated on the weaning importance. The study had shown that the knowledge of the primi mothers were adequate to practice the weaning and this should be encouraged for all the mothers.

REFERENCES:

1. Dorothy RM, Barbara AR. Text Book of Pediatric Nursing. 6^th Edition. Philadelphia; W.B. Saunders Company: 1998.

2. Gupta MC. Text book of preventive and social medicine. 3^rd edition. New Delhi; Jaypee Publication; 2003.

3. Kasthuri SR. An Introduction to Community Health Nursing. 3^rd Edition. New Delhi; B.J. Publications:2003.

4. Park k. Parks Text Book of Preventive and Social Medicine.15^th Edition. Jabalpur; M/s Banarsidas Bhanot Publishers: 2003.

5. Ernestina SD. A study regarding exclusive breast feeding and weaning practices among mothers. African journal of midwifery and women’s health.2013; 3(4):169-173.

6. Osuher. A study regarding weaning practices amongst Hausas. International journal of food sciences and nutrition. 2003; 1(2):273-280.

Received on 01.01.2020 Modified on 28.01.2020

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2020; 8(2):266-268.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2660.2020.00058.7