Parents' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding infant feeding

Abstract

Introduction. Adequate nutrition in the first year of life is an essential condition for the healthy growth and development of a child. According to periodic studies in the field, there are variable but constant deficiencies related to the knowledge of the principles of rational feeding of infants, as well as wrong feeding attitudes or practices, which can negatively influence the growth, development and health of children Aim of study. Research the knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents regarding the feeding of infants. Methods and materials. We analyzed the data of the specialized scientific literature, identified with the Google Search search engine, from the databases: PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus, international clinical protocols Results. According to the studies analyzed regarding parents' knowledge regarding infant feeding, not all parents have adequate knowledge regarding infant feeding. Although most mothers know that infants should be exclusively breastfed for 6 months, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months was much lower (44%), according to Gülümser Şişko S et al. (2022). Some gaps and serious mistakes in parents' knowledge are also listed, such as the use of foods other than milk from the age of 4 months. ). The report from the research of Raymond Ade Adesanmi et al. (2022) showed that 88.3% of mothers are aware when to introduce complementary food, while only 1.6% did it earlier (between 1-4 months), which is lower compared to the reported percentage by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the US (31.9%). Interestingly, although most mothers indicated that breastfeeding is healthy for their baby, they are unsure about the procedures related to expressing and storing breast milk. During the last years, Conclusion. To improve practices, it would be important to strengthen information from healthcare professionals about infant feeding, to stop the spread of misconceptions and to provide correct information about appropriate infant feeding practices.