Comparative Study of Breast-Feeding State among Fars (Native) Torkman, and Sistani Ethnic Group of Rural Areas in Gorgan District

Abstract

This study is a epidemiological description study that has been carried out for determining the status of breast feeding and extra feeding in the children of the Gorgan rural. Three race of the Gorgan rural such as Fars (native), Torkman and immigrants of sistani have been compared. Among 118 Gorgan rural, 20 of them were chosen by systematical simple random way. All children of 0-6 years old were studied. On the whole, 2890 children were studied. Results showed that 1) in the first six-month after birth, 86.1% children are nourished by breast milk. The Torkman races have significant statistical differences with Fars (native) and Sistani races (p< 0.05), 2) 34.6% children of Gorgan rural have begun extra feeding from six-month age. The highest and the lowest ratio have been observed in sistani (40.1%) and Fars (native) children (30.5%) respectively, 3) in the Gorgan children, the rate of the breast-feeding is higher than that was reported for whole the country. The children of the sistani race who live in Gorgan rural should be more supported from the nutritional viewpoint and the education of the breast-feeding must be considered more than the others. According to the results of this study, it can be conclude that social and cultural factors could change in the patterns of the children` nutrition.