Background: Very first act after birth is to suck our mother’s milk. It begins at birth. This is an act of affection, compassion, without that act newborn cannot survive. Breast feeding is the nature’s gift for growth and development of children. It is one of the extraordinary gifts of nature and reward for both baby and mother in many aspects. Exclusive breastfeeding should be practiced for the first six months of life to achieve optimum growth and development of health in India. Breastfeeding is almost universal, but the exclusive breast feeding is quite low. Primipara mothers have many doubts and fears about breast feeding. Present study was conducted for promotion of the knowledge regarding breast feeding among primigravida mothers attending antenatal OPD of Govt. Gandhi Nagar Hospital, Jammu. Aim: To assess the knowledge regarding breast feeding among primigravida mothers attending antenatal OPD of Govt. Gandhi Nagar Hospital, Jammu. Methods and Material: The study design was descriptive. Total of 100 mothers were included as a study subjects using purposive sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was a self structured knowledge questionnaire. Tool was validated by the groups of experts from various fields. Pilot study was conducted and the reliability of the tool was checked by internal consistency (spilt half method) and it was found to be 0.9. The tool was reliable so the main study was conducted in OPD of Govt. Hospital, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. The data was collected by using questionnaire and discussion developed by researcher. The collected data was tabulated, analyzed and interpreted by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Results of the study showed that 12% mothers have poor knowledge, 77% had average knowledge and 11% had good knowledge in Govt. Hospital, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. The knowledge score was significantly associated with the age of mothers, education, occupation, type of family, number of family members and the dietary pattern (p>0.05) whereas score was not statistically significantly associated with the religion of the mothers (p<0.05).The study concluded that most of mothers had average knowledge regarding breastfeeding. Conclusion: The investigator hopes that the distribution of pamphlets helps to increase their level of knowledge regarding breast feeding. Effective measures should be taken to mothers with relevant information with the involvement of media, doctors and community health programmes.
