Health Practices of Teenage Mothers Regarding Health Care of Their Infants

Background: The care the infant receives depends a lot on the knowledge, skills of the
mother. The teenage mothers are supposed to be lacking in knowledge, practices of infant care need
to promote their knowledge and practice for their infants. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess
teenage mothers health practices regarding the health care of their infants. Design: A descriptive
study was used. Setting: the study was conducted in:-MCH centers(Health Center El Azab) located
in Cairo governate. The study sample: A purpose sample of 124 teenage mothers and infants were
selected randomly by specific criteria. Tools: three tools were used for data collection: the first
tool was an interviewing questionnaire, which consists of three parts includes socio-demographic
data of teenage mothers and the characteristics of infants, second part included questions about
teenage mothers' knowledge about their health care infant(feeding, vaccination, weaning, sleeping,
bathing,), third part includes questions about Infant medical history, second tool includes a checklist
of teenage mothers practices related to the care of their infants(breastfeeding, measuring auxiliary
temperature, infant bath,), and third tool include infant physical assessment Result: The main result
of study revealed that more than half of teenage mothers had poor knowledge and less than two third of
them poor practicestoward their infant care. There were statistically significant teenage mothers' knowledge
and teenage mothers' practice regarding their infants care p=0.93** As well as between teenage mothers'
practice towards their infants care and infants' health problems p=0.94** Conclusion: That most of
teenage mothers had inadequate knowledge and poor practice regarding the care of their infants.
Recommendation: The results of this study stresses on the need for a health education programs for
teenage mothers who should be informed about all aspects of infants care and the study suggests that health
educational programs should focus on teenage mothers in antenatal clinics, antenatal counseling, post natal
classes, mass media companies for raising the awareness of teenage mothers and correct their knowledge
and their practice toward infants' care.