Mothers' practices during pregnancy, lactation and care of their children in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
OBJECTIVE
To study mothers' practices during pregnancy, lactation and care during the first 2 years.


METHODS
A cross section study was carried out in 5 Primary Health Care Centres (PHCC) in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two hundred and fifty women (50 from each PHCC) who have children less than 2-years of age who visited the selected PHCCs during the study period were selected by systematic random sampling. Data was collected via a questionnaire which contained sociodemographic characteristics of the mother and their children and mothers' practices during pregnancy, lactation and the care of their children.


RESULTS
Approximately 73% of the mothers breast fed their children initially but only 37.6% are currently breast feeding their children. The majority of the mothers started breast feeding during 1-8 hours after delivery, 63% added supplementary foods to their children at 4-8 months. The majority of mothers visited antenatal clinics during pregnancy, vaccinated their children and followed up their children in well baby clinics. Half of the mothers are currently using contraceptives and 19% are consuming less food during pregnancy. The mothers' educational level was the most important factor associated with mothers' practices.


CONCLUSIONS
Some mothers' practices during pregnancy, lactation and child care needs corrective intervention.
Al-Othman
Abdulaziz M
AM
Department of Community Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. amothman@ksu.edu.sa
Saeed
Abdalla A
AA
Bani
Ibrahim A
IA
Al-Murshed
Khalid S
KS
D001942:Breast Feeding; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007224:Infant Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors