Knowledge of Postnatal Mothers on Breast Milk Expression and Storage in a Selected Hospital of Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada

 

Mrs. Chandrakala Suresh, Mrs. Anu Joykutty, Mrs. Jitha Danish

Asst. Professor, C.U. Shah Institute of Nursing, Gujarat

Lecturer, Mother College of Nursing, Thrissur and Mrs Chandrakala Suresh

 

ABSTRACT:

Breastfeeding has many advantages for mother and the baby. Sucessful initiation of breast feeding is the first step towards good nutrition. Breast feeding is thenatural step after the childbirth and it is a very special gift from mother to her baby. The use of expressed breast milk has been advocated as an effective way of propsepcts of storage of expressed breast milk for any considerable period of time is unavoidable in neonatal units and in many households, especially among working mothers who need to report back to work soon after delivery.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Children are our future and our most precious resource. After birth, the health of the baby depends upon the nurturing practice adopted by the family. The ideal food for the young infant is human milk. Breast milk contain appropriate amount of carbohydrate, protein, vitamins, minerals and fat. Breast milk is child’s first immunization, because it contains valuable antibodies from the mother that may help the baby to resist infections. Lack of breast feeding is an important risk factor for infant and childhood morbidity and mortality. Who estimates that 1.5 million infant lives could be saved each year through increased breast feeding.

 

 

 

 

Direct breast feeding is not possible in some situations like when the baby is premature, the baby is born with cleft lip or cleft palate, the mother is ill, or the baby is separated from the mother for long or short duration, especially when the mother is going back to work after maternity leave. Usually these mothers wean earlier and their infants are at the risk of infections. In situations where direct breast feeding is not possible so, a mother can express the breast milk with manual massage or using breast pump, to feed her baby.

 

OBJECTIVES:

·      To determine the pre-existing knowledge of postnatal mothers on expression and storage of breast milk

·      To find the association between knowledge score of postnatal mothers regarding expression and storage of breast milk with selected demographic variables such as parity, education, employment, family income, residential area and sources of information.

·      To develop and distribute health education pamphlet on expression and storage of breast milk among postnatal mothers

 

HYPOTHESIS:

H₁: There will be significant association between knowledge score of the postnatal mothers on expression and storage of breast milk and the selected variables. The hypothesis will be tested at 0.05 level of Significance.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Descriptive research approach with a non-experimental typical descriptive design was found to be appropriate to describe the knowledge of postnatal mother on expression and storage of breast milk. Using non-probability purposive sampling, 50 postnatal mothers who were admitted in selected hospitals, Mangalore, was selected as the population for the study.

 

RESULTS:

1.    Description of demographic characteristics of postnatal mothers:

Forty percent of the samples belonged to the age group of 28 and above years. 36 percent of respondents were in Para II. Similar 30 percent of respondents had primary and high school education respectively. 62 percent of respondents were employed mothers. 42 per cent of the respondents have income of Rs.20, 001 -30,000. 64 percent of samples were residing in urban area. 24 percent of the respondents had information regarding expression of breast milk and storage by neighbours. 76 percent of the respondents had caesarean section and 54 percent of postnatal mothers had initiated breast feeding within 1hour on expression and storage of breast milk from mass media.

Table 1: Demographic characteristics of Post Natal Mothers         n=50

DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS	SUB CATEGORIES	FREQUENCY	PERCENTAGE
Age	18-22years	11	22.0
	23-27	19	38.0
	28 and above	20	40.0
Parity	Para I	17	34.0
	Para II	18	36.0
	Para III and above	15	30.0
Education	No formal education	14	28.0
	Primary school/middle school	15	30.0
	High school/Puc	15	30.0
	Degree and above	6	12.0
Employment	Employed	31	62.0
	Unemployed	19	38.0
Family income	Below Rs.10,000	6	12.0
	Rs. 10,001-20,000/-	14	28.0
	Rs. 20,001-30,000/-	21	42.0
	Rs.30,001 and above	9	18.0
Source of information	Self learning	9	18.0
	Mass media	9	18.0
	Health personnel	11	22.0
	Family members	9	18.0
	Neighbours	12	24.0
Residential area	Urban	32	64.0
	Rural	18	36.0
Mode of delivery	Normal vaginal delivery	12	24.0
	Caesarean section	38	76.0
Time of initiation of breast feeding	15 minutes	6	12.0
	30 minutes	5	10.0
	1 hour	27	54.0
	>1 hour	12	24.0

 

Table 2: Knowledge score of postnatal mothers:                              n=50

Percentage of range of score	Level of knowledge	No. of respondents	Percentage
0-40	Poor	14	28
1-70	Moderate	36	72
71-100	Good	0	0

 

2.    Analysis of knowledge of postnatal mothers on expression and storage of breast milk:

Assessment of the level of knowledge of mothers shows that the highest percentage (72 percent) of the mothers had moderate knowledge and 28 percent had poor knowledge regarding expression and storage of breast milk.

 

3.    Association between knowledge of postnatal mothers regarding expression and storage of breast milk and demographic variables:

The findings revealed that the mean knowledge score was 12.76±2.27. Chi-square test was used for analysis & it showed that there was no significant association between knowledge on expression and storage of breast milk with demographic variables.

 

Table 3: Association between knowledge of postnatal mothers regarding expression and storage of breast milk and demographic variables                                                                                          n=50

Demographic variable	df	Table value	Calculated value (c2)	Inference
Age	1	3.84	0.169	not significant
Parity	1	3.84	0.175	not significant
Education	1	3.84	0.618	not significant
Employment	1	3.33	2.80	not significant
Family income	1	3.84	0.751	not significant
Residential area	1	3.84	0.230	not significant
Mode of delivery	1	3.84	0.410	not significant
Source of information	1	3.84	1.82	not significant
Time of initiation of breast feeding	1	3.84	0.410	not significant

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

·      A comparative study on the knowledge of urban and rural postnatal mothers regarding expression and storage of breast milk can be conducted.

·      A planned teaching programme can be developed on the expression and storage of breast milk

·      A follow-up study can be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of health education pamphlet

·      A similar study can be conducted by using large samples to generalize the findings.

 

REFERENCES:

1.     Polit DF, Hungler BP. Nursing research: principles and methods. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott; 2000

2.     Kerlinger NF. Foundation of behavioural research. 2nd ed. New Delhi: Surjeet Publications; 1983.

3.     Nieswiadomy R. Foundations of nursing research. 3rd ed. Connecticut: Appleton and Lange; 1995.

 

 

 

 

Received on 09.05.2018       Modified on 27.06.2018

Accepted on 20.07.2018       ©A&V Publications All right reserved