Factors related to breast feeding practices among mothers in Singburi province, Thailand

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the factors related to breast feeding practices, in Singhburi Province/ Thailand, among mothers whose children were less than six months of age. The sample consisted of 130 mothers who attended Well Baby Clinics at two general hospital and four community hospitals during the period 9 January-6 February 2004. Chi-square analysis was applied to measure the relationship between breast feeding practices and other related factors. Approximately half of the mothers worked at home, had good knowledge about and a positive attitude towards breast feeding, and had family incomes of less than 6,000 baht per month. Almost all of these mothers had easy access to health services. They, however, did not feel that there were many places available to breast feed, and almost half felt that there was a lack of social support for this type of child care. Nearly 70% of the cohort used artificial feeding, while only 12% exclusively breast fed their infants. Mothers who had higher incomes tended to use artificial feeding more, while those who worked at home tended to exclusively breast feed. More places need to be made available for mothers to feel comfortable breast feeding, and women need to be made aware of the advantages and benefits of breast for both infants and mothers. Occupation and family income are important factors to be considered, with respect to increasing the number and percentage of women who choose to exclusively breast feed infant who are less than 6 months old.