Infant feeding practices at HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Medical Center (การปฏิบัติในการให้อาหารบุตรของมารดาที่คลอดบุตร ในโรงพยาบาลศูนย์การแพทย์สมเด็จพระเทพรัตนราชสุดาฯ สยามบรมราชกุมารี)

Abstract

Breast milk is the best and important sources of nutrients for infants. To date, the World Health Organization strongly encourage exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, thereafter, the proper complementary feeding is recommended with breastfeeding up to 2 years of age. However, several studies had demonstrated the improper feeding practice in infants especially the declining rate of exclusively breastfeeding along with age. As the rates of exclusively breastfeeding were varies among the centers, we sought to determine local data of exclusively breastfeeding and infant feeding practice up to the 6 months of age in infants born at HRH Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Medical Center (MSMC), Nakorn Nayok, Thailand. Three hundreds and sixteen mothers of children born at MSMC between February and December 2005 were interviewed for their feeding practice every 2 months for 6 months. The results indicated that the proportions of infants exclusively breastfed were 19.1% at 2 months, 1.2% at 4 months and 0% at 6 months, whereas, the proportions of infants receiving improper complementary foods at these ages were 25.7%, 47.8% and 76.1%, respectively. In conclusion, this study indicated that the low exclusively breast feeding rate, improper weaning and early introduction of complementary foods were significant problems in infants born at MSMC. There is need for promotion, protection and support of optimal infant feeding practices for improving nutritional status of children in this area.