Correlation Between Feeding Pattern and Duration of Hospital Stay in Pneumonia of Infants Below 6 Months of Age

<i>Introduction</i>: Pneumonia is the most common respiratory disorder among infants and one of the leading causes of hospital admission. Various feeding patterns have multiple impacts on pneumonia and recovery from it. Breast milk provides some protective properties against respiratory tract and gastrointestinal illness to protect infants during the first year of life. This study aimed to find an association between feeding patterns and duration of hospital stay due to pneumonia in infants below 6 months of age. <i>Methodology</i>: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Paediatrics, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh from February, 2019 to August, 2020. In our study, 200 infants below 6 months of age admitted with pneumonia in the Department of Paediatrics in Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Dhaka were enrolled according to selection criteria. <i>Result</i>: Maximum incidence was seen in the 3 to 4 months of age, e.g.40.0% & 36.30% in girls and boys respectively, mean age of the pneumonia patient was 2.9±1.5 months. Out of 200 cases, 55.0% cases were male and 45.0% were female. Among all infants 93.75% of exclusively breastfed infants needed ≤10 days, and 27.88% of non-exclusive breastfed infants needed>10 days in the hospital for recovery from pneumonia. In both cases, the p-value was 0.001. <i>Conclusion</i>: Exclusive breastfed infants have shorter and non-exclusive breastfed infants have longer hospital stays due to pneumonia below 6 months of age.