Patterns of Feeding In First Six Months among Infants Attending a Pediatric Outpatient Department: A Prospective Descriptive Study

Abstract

Background: Optimal infant feeding during the first six months of life is central to healthy growth, immune protection and prevention of avoidable morbidity. Local clinical data can help describe the feeding patterns encountered in routine pediatric practice.

Objective: To describe the age and sex distribution of infants included in the clinical dataset and to describe the feeding patterns in first six months of life.

Study Design: Prospective descriptive study.

Place and Duration of Study: Imran Idrees Teaching Hospital, Sialkot, Pakistan from 1^st September 2025 to 28^th February 2026.

Methodology: One hundred and ninety seven infants using an electronic clinical data were enrolled. Age, sex, feeding pattern and diagnosis were recorded and standardized for analysis. Age was converted to months where possible and categorized as neonatal period (0-28 days) or 1-6 months.

Results: There were 107 (54.3%) neonates and 90 (45.7%) were aged 1–6 months. Male infants were 109 (55.3%) and female infants 88 (44.7%). One hundred and fifty one (76.6%) infants were taking mother-feed, out of which exclusive mother feed were 104/197 (52.8%), followed by mother feed and bottle feed  - mixed feeding 47 (23.8%). Only 46 (23.4%) were taking bottle feeding alone.

Conclusion: The substantial diversity in infant feeding practices, with exclusive mother feed only in half of the infants along with mixed feeding categories. Exclusive mother feed can be increased by systematic counseling, standardized documentation of feeding practices and prospective studies using internationally recommended infant and young child feeding indicators.