Background: Early initiation of breastfeeding has proven significant health benefits to the infant. Evidences suggest that early skin to skin contact with mother and early initiation of breastfeeding increases the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding for 1 to 4 months. The correct knowledge, a positive attitude and suitable practice regarding the initiation of breastfeeding is required among the nursing mothers in the postnatal period. The objective of this study was to assess and analyze knowledge, attitude and practice of the nursing mothers towards early initiation of breastfeeding among the women within 48 hours in post natal care after delivery. Material and Methods: It was a cross sectional descriptive study. The study population was mothers of 15-49 years of age with newborns 0-48 hours of age and who had delivered at MCH Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia but had not been discharged from the hospital after delivery. A predesigned, pretested, self-administered multiple response questionnaires with a mixture of closed, open ended and questions with 5 point likert scale graded response was prepared to assess the knowledge ,attitude and practice on early initiation of breast feeding. The data were entered and analyzed by using the SPSS software, version 21. The inferential statistics like chi-square was used to determine the association of knowledge and attitude of breast feeding initiation with selected demographic variables. A p-value cut off point of 0.05 at 95% CI will be used to determine statistical significance. Results: A total of 317 out of 352 participants participated in this study making a response rate of 90%. The mean age of the participants was 29.83 ± 6.32 Std. Dev.(Range; 16-47 years).The mean party of the participants was 3.43 ± 1.81 Std. Dev.(Range 1-12 in number). Almost thirty nine percent of the participants (N=123) had poor knowledge about the initiation of breast feeding. The participants of the age group of 31-45 years, participants who received the information from family and friends(P=0.008) were having significantly higher knowledge(P=0.011). More than thirty three percent (N=106) of the participants had negative attitude towards initiation of breast feeding. The participant mothers who received the information on early initiation of breastfeeding (P=0.004), source of information from family and friends had significantly more positive attitude towards initiation of breastfeeding. Twenty seven percent of the participant mothers (N=86) did not have good practice towards the initiation of breastfeeding. Practice was significantly better among those mothers who had male child (p=0.024) and participants mothers who received the information (p=0.000) regarding initiation of breast feeding. The participant mothers who received information from the family and friends were having significantly better (p=0.022) practice towards the initiation of breastfeeding. Seventy eight percent of the participants in our study agreed that baby should be breastfed within an hour after delivery. Conclusion: The present study has found that early initiation of breastfeeding among the participants was adequate and attitude towards early initiation of breastfeeding were positive in general. However the good knowledge and positive attitude could not translate to expected practice towards early initiation of breastfeeding.
