Abstract:
Breastfeeding is considered the best way to provide nutrition for babies and recommended in order to achieve optimal growth, development, and health since it provides valuable proteins and antibodies essential for the development of the baby (WHO, 2019). However, despite the advantages of breastfeeding both to the infant and mother, the practice of it is still not strictly implemented among mothers after being discharged from the hospital here in the Philippines which is supported by the data gathered by the WHO. To help address this, Sharma and Byrne (2016) identified possible factors affecting breastfeeding but there are few researches showing whether if it is applicable to the localities in the Philippines. This paper entitled “Awareness and Intention to Breastfeeding of Primigravida Mothers in La Trinidad, Benguet” aimed to determine the relationship of maternal factors to the primigravida mothers' intention to breastfeed. Results showed that the primigravida mothers in La Trinidad, Benguet are moderately aware of the different domains of breastfeeding and they are more likely to breastfeed for more than 6 months up to 24 months which falls under the complementary breastfeeding category. Further findings revealed that the age and the educational attainment of the mothers did significantly affect the intention to breastfeed. Furthermore, the intention to breastfeed was found to have no correlation with maternal awareness. Findings emphasize the necessity to improve laws and develop programs related to breastfeeding like mandatory seminars to enhance the understanding of first-time mothers towards breastfeeding especially to teenage mothers.
