Breastfeeding Practices in Tribal and Caste Population of West Bengal: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Breastfeeding has typically been studied as a discrete behaviour predicted by biological and social-cultural factors. The objectives of this study were to investigate into the pattern of and understand the knowledge and attitude of breastfeeding practices among the lactating mothers belonging to Bengali Hindu caste (BHC) and tribal groups. A total number of 167 lactating mothers were selected from Bengali Hindu caste population residing in the rural (100) and urban(40) areas of South and North 24 Parganas districts and from the tribal groups residing in rural areas (27) of Purulia district West Bengal. The selection of the study areas and of the participants was done on the basis of operational convenience. Data types include the time of initiation and duration of breastfeeding, the practice of exclusive breastfeeding, feeding colostrums and the knowledge and attitude of the mothers towards breastfeeding. Data on socio-economic information of the participants were taken as additional variable. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaire. Trend in the results indicate that the practice of exclusive breastfeeding was lower in the Bengali Hindu caste population compared to the tribal population; feeding of colostrums is very common to the tribal mothers but not for their Bengali Hindu caste counterparts. Although the participants from both tribal and Bengali Hindu caste population were aware about the beneficial effect of breastfeeding, yet their attitude towards this behaviour varied widely.