الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
One of the most important variables determining a child’s survival, nutrition, development, and mother’s health throughout the first year of life is breastfeeding. During their first six months of life, infants should be exclusively breastfed, according to recommendations from the WHO and the UNICEF. However, it is well recognized that breastfed newborns, particularly in high altitude areas, are prone to vitamin D insufficiency. Infants should take vitamin D supplements, especially if they are exclusively breastfed, according to numerous worldwide health organizations. The purpose of this study was the assessment of the knowledge and practices of nursing mothers about vitamin D supplementation to their infants.Across-sectional study design was performed on 424 mothers nursing their 0-12 months old healthy infants attending four Family Health Centers selected from main two medical districts in Alexandria. Data was collected through: A pre-designed coded interview questionnaire consisting of three sections• Section 1 assessing the socio-demographic characteristics, • Section 2 assessing the mother’s knowledge about vitamin D.• Section 3 evaluating the participant’s practices towards current vitamin D supplementation to their infants.A scoring system to assess mother’s knowledge and practices concerning vitamin D issues was used. The total knowledge and practice scores were calculated for the studied sample.The IBM SPSS software package version 28.0.was used for data entry and analysis.In the light of data analysis the results could be summarized as follows:• Boys were 56.6% and girls were 43.4%. More than one third of infants ranked 1st and 2nd in their families (37.7% & 38.7% respectively). Less than half of them were of birth weight 2.5 - < 3 Kg & 3 -<4 Kg (46.2% & 47.2% respectively).
• Nearly about two thirds (65.1%) of the studied mothers were in the age group 25 - <35 years, 67% were of university degree or higher, 76.4% had enough income, 71.7% were housewives, the majority (93.4%) of them were of an urban residence. Three quarters 75.5% were living in sunny homes.
• All studied mothers heard about vitamin D. • Correct answers regarding the sun being the most important natural source of vitamin D were stated by (81.1%) of the studied mothers, and the minority (12.3 %) reported the best food source rich in vitamin D.• The great proportion of the participants (79.2%) stated correct answers about the most important benefit of vitamin D for infants and (84.9%) started vitamin D supplementation as recommended. • More than one fifth 21.7% of the studied sample had correct knowledge regarding the duration of supplementation of vitamin D.
• Physicians (36.8%) were the main source of information about vitamin D followed by social media, TV and radio (30.1%).• The minority 0.9% of the studied sample had good knowledge score, and nearly two thirds (65.1%) had poor knowledge regarding vitamin D.• That a great proportion (85.8%) and more than three quarters (77.4%) of the studied mothers showed correct practice regarding current infant vitamin D supplementation and the onset of supplementation respectively.• More than two thirds (69.8%) stated correct practices concerning the correct vitamin D DROP dose.• The minority (10.4%) of the studied sample were of good practice, regarding vitamin D supplementation to their infants.
• Infant age (p=0.017), desired baby (p<0.001), infant order (p=0.003), were the significant predictors for the total practice score.• A statistically significant association was found between the knowledge score and the age, education level, residence, and occupation of the studied mothers.• A statistically significant association was found between the practice and the mothers’ age, residence, educational level and occupation.• A significant association between knowledge and practice scores (x2=3.14, p<0.001). More than three quarters 77.5% of mothers who got poor practice had poor knowledge. On the other hand, 63.6 % of mothers who got good practice had fair knowledge.
6.2. Conclusion
Evaluating the mothers’ knowledge and practice appears to be a worthwhile pursuit given the crucial role of vitamin Din child health. The nursing mothers in this study had poor knowledge and rather fair practice concerning vitamin D. The minority 0.9% of the studied sample had good knowledge score, and nearly two thirds (65.1%) had poor knowledge regarding vitamin D. Also, the minority 10.4% scored good practice and more than one third (37.7%) were of poor practice concerning vitamin D. Both the participants’ knowledge and practice were correlated significantly with the mothers’ age, education level, residence, and occupation.
The study emphasized the magnitude of the lack of appropriate knowledge about a health-related crucial issue and highlighted the significance of health education programs to mothers about the importance, sources and supplementation of vitamin D and the long term impact of vitamin D deficiency and means of its prevention.