Breastfeeding and infection control measures among lactating COVID-positive mothers: A retrospective study

Authors

  • Barathy Chandrasegaran Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2315-8495
  • Jayavani Ramasundaram Loganathan Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3405-1458
  • Devi Kitty Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4041-3638
  • Thiagarajan Srinivasan Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9703-0139
  • Jayapriya Mounissamy Intern, Department of Pediatrics, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India
  • Jennifer Francis Xavier Intern, Department of Pediatrics, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v13i9.44489

Keywords:

Breast feeding; COVID 19; Lactation; Milk; Prevention; SARS-COV-2

Abstract

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding along with infection prevention measures is recommended for lactating COVID-positive mothers as benefits outweigh the risk.

Aims and Objectives: The present study was undertaken to assess the feeding and infection prevention measures among the COVID-19 infected lactating mothers in Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry to identify areas of concern.

Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional and observational study was conducted by telephonic survey after verbal consent on a series of 103 COVID-positive postnatal mothers regarding their feeding practices and infection prevention measures. Descriptive statistics was used.

Results: Breastfeeding was given by 72 (69.9%), mixed feeding by 27 mothers (26.2%), and formula feeds by four (3.9%). Overall, exclusive breastfeeding was given by 66 mothers (64.1%). With respect to infection prevention measures, high performance of frequent/always was observed for use of hand hygiene (n=90, 87.3%) and use of mask (n=81, 78.5%).

Conclusion: Despite the pandemic situation, the most COVID-positive mothers breastfed their infants with fair compliance to infection prevention measures.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Abstract
188
PDF
230

Downloads

Published

2022-09-01

How to Cite

Barathy Chandrasegaran, Jayavani Ramasundaram Loganathan, Devi Kitty, Thiagarajan Srinivasan, Jayapriya Mounissamy, & Jennifer Francis Xavier. (2022). Breastfeeding and infection control measures among lactating COVID-positive mothers: A retrospective study. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences, 13(9), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v13i9.44489

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 9 (2022)

Section

Original Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Asian Journal of Medical Sciences

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The journal holds copyright and publishes the work under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license that permits use, distribution and reprduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. The journal should be recognised as the original publisher of this work.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).