Objective: To study the effect of antenatal counselling on breastfeeding practices.
Methods: This study was conducted at Abbasi Shaheed hospital Karachi. All primigravidas from June
2014 to December 2014 were recruited. The study was a cross-sectional survey and non-probability
purposive sampling was done. Among these 432 primigravida mothers, 324 who had a minimum of
three antenatal visits were included in the study. These 324 mothers were administered a pre-tested
semi-structured questionnaire on breastfeeding. The awareness among mothers (both "counselled"
and "not counselled") regarding health information pertaining to breastfeeding was assessed. The
content of counselling sessions was discussed with women who received counselling to ensure
whether the counselling received was adequate.
Results: Of the booked mothers, 21.91% had received some antenatal counselling about
breastfeeding while 78.09% had not received any such counselling. Awareness related to
breastfeeding among mothers who received counselling was better than those who were not counselled.
Conclusion: Antenatal counselling given to first time mothers in not sufficient and needs to be improved.
Antenatal visits provide an opportunity to counsel about breastfeeding, which should not be
missed.