Role of Knowledge, Perception, Attitudes and Practices of Female Medical Students towards Breastfeeding

Abstract

Barest feeding is the act of feeding breast milk to an infant, it can directly from the mother’s breast, or breast milk can be pumped and then fed from a bottle. Breast milk contains calories, vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients that help an infant grow and develop. It also contains antibodies, which help protect the infant against some infections. Breastfeeding also helps protect the infant and mother against certain diseases or conditions. Exclusive Breastfeeding is defined as an infant receiving only breast milk, it's recommended to exclusively breastfeed infants for the first 6 months of their life as it has positive outcomes on the infant's and mother's health. The aim of the study is to determine role of the knowledge, attitude, perception and practices on breast feeding among female medical students at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah city, Saudi Arabia. A descriptive Cross-sectional study was conducted, (205) female students included using stratified sampling technique. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire, factors associated with breastfeeding were measured using appropriate statistical tests with p-values of less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Study clarified that (90.2%) of the medical students who have children practiced breastfeeding. (4.9%) agreed that artificial milk is a healthier than mother milk, while (42.9%) perceived that artificial milk is a healthy alternative. (95.1%) agreed that breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. study discovered that there’s no statistically significant relationship between practicing breastfeeding among lactating respondents and their perception about artificial milk as a healthy choice since the p-value (>0.05). Female medical students have a high level of knowledge, good perception and attitudes about importance of breastfeeding, but there no effect on the actual practices among lactating respondents, more efforts is needed to overcome the problem which may affect the health of coming generations.