Feeding of colostrum in urban and rural areas.

The practice of colostrum feeding and factors influencing the same were studied by interviewing 2158 mothers belonging to low socio-economic group from urban slums and rural areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Statistically significant (p less than 0.001) difference was found between rural and urban areas with regard to the practice of feeding colostrum. Though the percentage feeding colostrum was very poor, the discard of colostrum was very less among rural mothers. Developmental programmes such as ICDS and others also showed significantly beneficial effects on colostrum feeding practice in both urban and rural (p less than 0.001) areas. Socio-economic factors such as better income (p less than 0.001) and hospital delivery were noted to have positive influence on colostrum feeding. Religion did not seem to affect the practice of colostrum feeding.