Infant feeding practices in the urban slum of Karad in west Maharashtra.

Infant feeding practices have been studied amongst 181 women residing in a semiurban area of Maharashtra. Information on socio-economic status of the family with special reference to maternal literacy and occupation was collected. Data pertaining to the type of prelacteal feed, time of beginning of breast feeding, age at introduction and type of supplementary food were obtained. Instead of colostrum, 73.49% mothers used various inaugural feeds. Social factors viz, lack of education, poverty, lack of knowledge about the nutritional requirement of the infant and feeding of infants by elder sister or brother (foster mother) were the major determinants for erroneous feeding practices.