International Journal of Medicine Research

Authors
Khulood J Mahmood, Hajir H Al-Ridhwany, Ruqayah Y Hasani

Abstract
Breast milk is beneficial for infant, mother and society. Health professionals recommend that breast feeding begin within the first hour of a baby's life. The current study was aiming for finding out feeding pattern of children during their first two years of life in Mosul city, Iraq. It was carried out in Al-Khansaa and Ibin-Sena Teaching Hospitals after obtaining the required administrative agreements. Case series design was adopted over five month’s period (from 1^st of November 2012 to 30^th of March 2013). Two hundreds children between 1-24 months old who were admitted to the pediatric clinics and words were selected randomly. Breast feeding was reported among 46.5% of studied children. While, 46.0% were being mixed feeding. Breast feeding was most frequently reported among children younger than 6 month of age. It is recommended that health education program concerning benefits of breastfeeding is required to be expanded.