Pilot Study: Mother's Attitude and Practices toward Antenatal Care, Micronutrient Supplementation and Breastfeeding in Salmaniya Medical Complex

Full text: Good nutrition in the first 1000 days provides a stable long term foundation for society, as it ensures a child's growth to his/her potential (1). Pregnant women who suffer from multiple micronutrient deficiencies have been associated with poor pregnancy outcomes including Low Birth weight-LBW (4). Iron deficiency anemia is linked to an increased risk of infections (4), and is still a health problem in the kingdom of Bahrain with the prevalence of 22.7% to 54% (5). The World Health Organization (WHO), United Nation Children's fund (UNICEF) and American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations are to initiate breastfeeding within the first hour of life and to and sustain exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months (6). Several studies have shown a downward trend of breastfeeding in developing countries such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (7,8). Studies in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kingdom of Bahrain have shown partial breastfeeding at early months<6month age (8,9) Aim: To provide a preliminary evaluation of the mother's attitude/practices toward antenatal care, micronutrient supplementation and breastfeeding in Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC), Kingdom of Bahrain. Methods: A sample of 62 Bahraini mothers - inpatients and outpatients- within the age group of 20 years to 35 years old at SMC were asked by dietitians and diet technicians to answer 7 closed ended questions about importance of antenatal care, compliance to nutritional recommendations during pregnancy and breastfeeding practices. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used in analyzing data collected. Fisher Exact test and Chi-Square test were used to correlate the determinants (age and education level) with mother's attitude/practices. Statistical significance was assumed at p<0.05 Results: Scores showed no significant correlation between education level mother's attitude/practices toward antenatal care, micronutrient supplementation and breastfeeding. As for age, we found more mothers above 25 years of age agree that micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy is important than younger mothers ≤ 25 years old. Only 58% of the participants knew the recommendation of The World Health Organization (WHO), United Nation Children's fund (UNICEF) and American Academy of Pediatrics regarding the time to initiate Breastfeeding post birth mostly were older mothers of age above 25 years old. 84% of the sample did breastfeed for at least 6 months. There is a significant positive correlation between age and the period of breastfeeding Conclusion: There is still a need to improve awareness of the importance of antenatal care, breastfeeding and adherence to multivitamin supplementations. More studies are needed to find the prevalence and determinants of healthy practices and behaviors for healthy maternal and child wellbeing. (author)