Knowledge Attitude and Practices of Mothers and Medical Staff towards Breastfeeding during the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 crises caused increased stress, staff deployment and conflicting policies with regards breastfeeding. The extent to which such factors influenced early feeding practices is poorly understood. Objective: To investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of women and health providers towards continuation of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) during the COVID crisis. Subjects and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 breastfeeding mothers and 300 health providers in Benha City as an after-effect to this crisis. Data were collected through interviewer-administered structured questionnaires covering demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices, and statistically analysed. Results: The mean age of mothers was 28±5 years. Most mothers resided in rural areas (60%) and had high education levels (75.5%). About 62.5% were familiar with EBF, and 68.3% identified six months as the recommended EBF duration. Opinions on breastfeeding during COVID-19 varied: 34% knew breast-milk protected against COVID infection, while 56.5% disagreed with stopping breastfeeding due to infection with COVID. Urban residents had KAP about vaccination against COVID-19 and better hygiene practices. Health providers were less likely to encourage continuation of breastfeeding especially for admissions to neonatal units. Logistic regression revealed that each additional year of mother’s age reduced the risk of not EBF by 10% (OR = 0.897, 95% CI = 0.843 – 0.954, P = 0.001), and being a working mother reduced this risk by 43% (OR = 0.575, 95% CI = 0.349 – 0.946, P = 0.029). Conclusion: COVID-19 crises affected early feeding practices to some extent.