Breast feeding practice in a region of Beirut

Abstract

The practice of breast-feeding was reviewed in an inquiry carried on by the nursing students in Beirut and suburbs. 170 mothers answered the questionary concerning their experience in feeding their 170 babies as well as their previous 263 children of whom 249 were breast-fed. 31.17% of these mothers were breast-feeding for the first time. 11% of the newborns were fed in the first hour of life. 29% of the newborns received breast milk as the first food. Breast milk remained exclusive for the first month of life in 37.54% of these newborns. Breast-feeding mothers changed their feeding habit in half of the cases. They increased the quantity but the quality of nutriments was still deficient. This misunderstanding of breast-feeding is due primarily to the insufficiently informed mothers and to the inadequate habits of nursery. It is important to ameliorate the quality of information for the breast-feeding mothers and their household for the success of any policy encouraging breast-feeding in Lebanon.