Assessment of Postpartum Women’s Knowledge About Benefits of Early Breast Feeding for Mother’s Health.

Background: Early initiation of breastfeeding offers significant health benefits for both mothers and newborns. Aim: To assess postpartum women’s knowledge about the benefits of early initiation of breastfeeding on maternal health Methods: Design: descriptive cross-sectional research design was used. Setting: at post-partum ward – women health hospital- king Saud medical city-Riyadh-KSA Sample: A convenience sample of 300 postpartum were included in the study Tools: A Structured interview questionnaire was used for data collection which included personal characteristics, obstetric history, breastfeeding practices, and knowledge assessment about breastfeeding. Results: according to the study, 73% of the studied women are educated while 9% of them are illiterate, furthermore, 15% of them are employee while 85% are housewives, also 23% are primi-parous while 77% are multi-parous. only 16.7% demonstrated good knowledge, while 60.6% had poor knowledge about benefits of early breastfeeding initiation on mothers’ health, with statistically significant associated with educational level, occupation, and prior receipt of breastfeeding education Conclusion: Despite high exposure to information, more than half of the studied post-partum women had poor knowledge about early initiation of breastfeeding and its benefits on women’s health. Recommendations: Strengthening antenatal and postnatal educational interventions, particularly for less educated and first-time mothers, is recommended to promote optimal breastfeeding practices.