Background: Breast milk is the ideal nutrition for infants as it contains a mixture of vitamins, protein, and fat, and everything the baby needs to grow. Breastfeeding also has benefits for mothers, such as decreasing the risk of breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. The study aimed to assess the awareness of mothers about the importance of breastfeeding in the Tabuk region.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was performed at King Khalid Hospital and Maternity and Children Hospital in Tabuk city, Saudi Arabia. The study investigated the demographics of mothers and their awareness of breastfeeding. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences program was used to analyze the data obtained from mothers.
Results: This study included 266 mothers within the age range of 15-45 years. Among the participants, 63.2% reported breastfeeding, and 27.8% reported that they breastfed their children sometimes. Of all participants, 84.2% and 97.7% knew the benefits of breastfeeding, 18% reported using artificial milk; the most common reason for replacing breastfeeding was the lack of mother milk (52.6%). Significant associations were observed between each of age of mothers and replacing breastfeeding (p = 0.004), age of mothers and the time to replace breastfeeding (p = 0.007), age of mothers and the reason to replace breastfeeding (p = 0.005), education of the mother and time of breastfeeding cessation (p = 0.004), and time of replacing breastfeeding and the reason for cessation (p = 0.0001).
Conclusion: An adequate level of awareness was observed among mothers about breastfeeding and the right attitude toward it, but some gaps were reported in the practice of breastfeeding.
Key words: Awareness, mothers, breastfeeding, benefits
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