[Infant feeding in the rural area of Chuvash Republic and Nizhny Novgorod Region]

The nature of feeding in the first year of life affects the health of the child in all subsequent periods of life. Objective - the article is devoted to the study of the state of feeding the children of the first year of life living in rural areas. The study was carried out on the basis of three children's clinics in the Chuvash Republic and the Nizhny Novgorod region by random sampling using an anonymous questionnaire of women who had children aged 1 to 2 years living in the rural areas of the Chuvash Republic and the Nizhny Novgorod Region (140 and 60 women, respectively). According to our data, the absolute majority of women surveyed (96%) wished to feed their babies for at least 1 year. All infants (100%) after birth were attached to the chest, in the first 30 minutes - 62%, in later terms - 38%. Feeding the artificial formulas before the first application to the breast was used in nutrition of 26% of newborns. Exclusive breastfeeding for less than 4 months received 23% of babies, 4-6 months - 69%, 7 months - 8% of babies. The main reason for transferring infants to mixed and artificial feeding was hypogalactia. At the age of up to 6 months for mixed feeding 49% of babies were transferred, for artificial feeding - 16%. In most cases (69%), when signs of hypogalactia appeared no weighting was carried out, an independent transfer of the child to another type of feeding was observed in the same majority (65%) of cases. The choice of the mixture was carried out by the parents independently in 65% of cases, in other cases - on the recommendation of the pediatrician. In general, in most cases (66%), adapted mixtures were used in feeding the infants, cow milk (22%), goat milk (6%), and sour milk drinks (6%) were used from unadapted products. Before the age of 3 months 5% of babies completed breastfeeding, in the age of 4-6 months - 11%, 7-9 months - 16%, 10-12 months - 5%, more than 6 months continued to be fed with breast milk 84% of babies, more than a year - 63%. The average duration of breastfeeding was 13.8±4.2 months. Half (48%) of children received vegetable puree as the first supplement, in the remaining children porridge (24%), fruit puree (20%), cottage cheese (8%) served as such. Conclusion: breastfeeding of infants in rural areas needs active support from pediatric staff.