A study to Assess the Knowledge and Practice of Staff Nurses and Postnatal Mothers on Implementation of Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Chennai

Aims: Breastfeeding is considered the ideal nutrition for neonates. It not only provides the essential micronutrients and macronutrients but also helps in building a bond between the baby and the mother apart from its long term effects. For the promotion of breastfeeding several steps have been initiated by the UNICEF and WHO of which BFHI is the most important initiative. This study is to assess Knowledge and Practice regarding breastfeeding of BFHI among Nurses and postnatal mothers.

Study Design: A non experimental descriptive study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Neonatology and Department of obstetrics, Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Saveetha University, Chennai, India. Between September 2020 and December 2020.

Methodology: A hospital based survey was done among 40 staff nurses and 40 postnatal mothers regarding their knowledge about BFHI and breastfeeding, demonstration of practice of breastfeeding and principles of BFHI and their perceptions on factors that hinder the implementation of BFHI. Data on knowledge of baby-friendly hospital initiative and breastfeeding was collected by using a self-administered structured questionnaire and practice of breastfeeding by observation checklist. Descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation) and inferential (Chi-square, normality test, and Spearman’s rank correlation) statistics were used for data analysis with SPSS version 20.

Results: Both the staff nurses and mothers were assed for knowledge using7 questions compared to the postnatal mothers the knowledge about BFHI and Breastfeeding was higher among the staff nurses. Successful practice of breastfeeding and principles of BFHI was studied using demonstration of proper positioning, attachment, expression of breast milk and skin to skin contact which again was higher among the staff nurses compared to the mothers. The findings show that out of 40nurses surveyed, more than (77.1%) of the respondents had a good level of knowledge and more than three-fourth had a good level of practice of breastfeeding. Among the mothers there was significantly lesser knowledge with less than half (45%) had knowledge about BFHI .Regarding the practice of breastfeeding and BFHI (89%) of the staff nurses demonstrated successful breastfeeding and principles of BFHI in comparison (75.5%) of the mothers showed successful breastfeeding. Regarding the hindrances to breastfeeding both the mothers and staff nurses had similar views.

Conclusion: There is still lack of complete awareness of some major recommended practices in the hospitals that will promote and sustain breastfeeding. The staff nurses and postnatal mothers need to be educated further on the importance of breastfeeding and principles of BFHI. This can be achieved by promoting antenatal and lactation counseling of the mothers and training of the staff nurses on the principles of BFHI. Policy changes in educating mothers and staff nurses on promoting breastfeeding should be implemented.