Indian J. Prev. Soc. Med. Vol. 35 No. 1&2, 2004 COLOSTRUM AND PRELACTEAL FEEDING PRACTICES FOLLOWED BY FAMILIES OF PAVEMENT AND ROADSIDE SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS Anuradha Goyle’, Preeti Jain?, Swati Vyas’, Harsha Saraf’, Neetu Shekhawat? ABSTRACT The study was conducted to assess the colostrum and prelacteal feeding practices of pavement and roadside squatter settlement families in Jaipur city. It was found that 85.7% of the mothers discarded colostrum. Prelacteal feeds were given by 96.6% of the mothers. The prelacteal feeds included plain water (48.3%), jaggery with ghee/oil in the form of pellats which were stuck to the palate (46.2%), sugar water (28.2%), gripe water (24.1%), jaggery water (20.7%), omum (ajwain) water (6.8%), milk (5.4%), honey (2.0%), tea (0.7%) and omum (ajwain) with ghee/oil (0.3%). INTRODUCTION Colostrum is the first breast milk, which is thicker and yellower than later milk and comes only in small amounts in the first few days. Colostrum is all the food and fluid needed at this time- no supplements are necessary, not even water’. Unfortunately, most ignorant and illiterate mothers discard colostrum for various reasons”*. Moreover, the mothers initiate the infants on pre-lacteals. 1. Associate Professor, 2, M.Sc. Student, Department of Home Science, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur- 302004 indexed in ; index Medicus (IMSEAR), INSDOC, NCI Current Content, Database of Alcohol & Drug Abuse, National Database in TB & Allied Diseases, IndMED, Entered in WHO CD ROM for South East Asia.Anuradha Goyle et al, 44 =a Colostrum and Pretacteal Feeding Practices Prelacteal feeds are given under the belief that they act as laxatives, cleansing agents or re- hydrating agents* or as a means of clearing the mconium®. Unfortunately, they are not aware that prelacteals could be a source of contamination too. A lot of work in this area has been carried out in slums and in urban and rural areas.*"* However, there is a paucity of data from squatter settlements. The present study was designed to look into the colostrum and prelacteal feeding practices of the families of pavement and roadside squatter settlements. MATERIALS AND METHODS No enumeration of roadside squatter settlements had been made in Jaipur city when the present study was conducted from March 1999 to March 2001. The Jaipur Nagar Nigam and the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) officials provided some information on the whereabouts of a few squatter settlements; the rest of the information was obtained from the residents of the squatter settlements and their leaders, as also local people living nearby. Inmates of squatter settlements on the pavements and on vacant plots alongside the main roads were approached for data collection. The sample comprised 294 families, which were purposively selected from 42 squatter settlements. In all, 294 mothers were interviewed with the help of an interview schedule on the breast and infant feeding practices followed by them. RESULTS TABLE-1: Colostrum and prelacteal feeding practices of families of pavement and roadside squatter settlements | The squatters lived in tents and | Infants (n=294) No. % had meager possessions. The literacy status of | Colostrum Fed to infants the mothers was poor (98.3%). Most of th 1_Yes 2 ae ee Z * No 252 857 families had a nuclear family structure (84.5%). | Prelacteal Feeds The families were engaged in activities + Given 284 96.6 generating low incomes. They were exposed to |__* Not given < = ‘Types of Prelacteal Feeds Given (N>294) the ill effects of the environment Plain Water 142 73 Itis evident from Table-1 that 14.3% mothers had | Jaggery With Ghee/Oil 136 46.2 . i ., | Sugar Water 83 28.2 iven colostrum, while 85.7% had deprived given colostrum, while 85.7% had deprived their Soe To 7 oat infants of this valuable food. Almost all the | Jaggery Water 1 20.7 mothers (96.6%) aave prelacteal feeds to their | Ajwain Water 20 68 Indian J. Prev. Soc. Med Vol. 35 No.1 & 2 59 Jan.-June, 2004Anuradha Goyle etal =~. Colostrum and Prelacteal Feeding Practices mothers (96.6%) gave prelacteal feeds to their | Dairy Milk/Goat’s Milk 16 34 children. Cow's Mik Honey é 20 | Tea 2 =e Ajwain With Ghee/Oil 1 0.3 The prelacteal feeds included plain water (48.3%), jaggery with ghee/oil in the form of pellets which were stuck to the palate (46.2%), sugar water (28.2%), gripe water (24.1%), jaggery water (20.7%), omum (ajwain) water (6.8%), milk (5.4%), honey (2.0%), tea (0.7%) and omum (ajwain) with ghee/oil (0.3%). DISCUSSION ; Colostrum feeding: in the present study, only 14.3% of the mothers had fed colostrum to their babies. The rest had discarded it as they thought it to be immature dirty milk and therefore harmful to their infants. The results of Kumari et af and Srivastava et al” corroborate those of the present study. Kumari et af reported that 16.9% of the infants had been given colostrum by their mothers with an urban background from Delhi. Srivastava et af” found in their study that colostrum was discarded by 82.89% mothers because they were ignorant of its advantages. In rural areas of Haryana, the situation was even more dismal as revealed from a study by Punia ef af, where only 0.66% of the respondents had fed colostrum to their infants. However, higher figures for colostrum feeding have also been reported. Subbulakshmi et af carried out a study on a low socio-economic group of women from urban slums and rural areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat and noted that 22% of the mothers had fed colostrum to their infants. The reasons cited by mothers for not feeding colostrum were elders’ negative attitude towards colostrum feeding, dai's prohibition, belief that it is bad for the child's health, caesarean deliveries and absence of colostrum secretion. About 31% of urban and 80% of rural mothers from Coimbatore did not feed colostrum to their infants’. Singh et af reported from their study in some semi-arid rural areas of Rajasthan that about 77% of the women disc>rded colostrum due to different reasons: 42.7% women considered it harmful to the infant, 30.7% . .arded it due to prevalent social customs or traditions. However, 26.6% discarded it due to both. On the other hand, Ghosh’ stated from his study on colostrum feeding of healthy newborns that none of the babies were deprived of colostrum. It was because all the babies had been delivered —_ospital. Barring just a few studies, colostrum feeding Indian J. Prev. Soc. Med Vol. 35 No.1 & 2 60 Jan.-June, 2004