AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS BREASTFEEDING AMONG NURSING STUDENTS OF TERTIARY CARE CENTRE IN NEW DELHI

Poor breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices are widespread. The beneficial effect of breastfeeding depends on correct breastfeeding practices like timely initiation, colostrum feeding, and avoidance of prelacteal feeding. Breastfeeding support from healthcare professionals can be effective in influencing a mother’s decision to initiate and maintain breastfeeding. To assess knowledge, and perception regarding breastfeeding and complementary feeding and to identify various misconceptions about breastfeeding among nursing students. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 120 Nursing students by the Department of Community Medicine, NDMC Medical College and Hindu Rao Hospital Delhi, India. The information was collected by interviewing the nursing students with the help of pretested, predesigned proforma. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21 was used for analysis. In this study, significance was set at p