Sadhana Panda1, Budhia Majhi2, Abinash Panda3
BACKGROUND
As per NFHS-4 data under 5 mortality in India is 50 and infant mortality rate is 41. Globally, neonatal deaths account for 41% of mortality in children under 5 years of age, rate that has been increasing over recent years. Hypothermia is an important cause of death in low birth weight (LBW) babies.1 Neonatal hypothermia, defined as an abnormally low body temperature of under 36.5*C is a risk factor for newborn survival. The essential care of LBW includes maintenance of warmth to prevent hypothermia. Hypothermia is considered as a silent killer.2 Infants born small or prematurely are recognized as needing more intense thermal protection.3 Apart from intrinsic problems in LBW neonate, the thermal control in them is greatly influenced by knowledge and practice of caregivers specifically mother.4 Objective- While hypothermia has long been recognized as a potential threat to newborn survival in resource-limited settings, it has not received sufficient attention. So there is a need of assessing the knowledge of mothers of LBW babies on prevention of hypothermia and to provide them the knowledge of cost effective thermal protection measures. A very few studies have been made in our institution SNCU which caters a good number of LBW neonate from south Odisha.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
It is a cross-sectional study using pre-tested, pre-structured questionnaire. 54 mothers having LBW babies admitted to SNCU of MKCG Medical College were included in study. Descriptive analytical statistics applied.
RESULTS
Out of 54 mothers 57% were from rural area, residing in nuclear family were 59%. Mothers attended hospital for confinement were 95% and 85% started breast feeding their babies. Only 44% had knowledge of keeping the baby warm by immediately wiping the baby. But no mother had knowledge of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC).
CONCLUSION
However, simple strategies such as skin-to-skin care are not consistently practiced by many of mothers. Mothers still need more knowledge to prevent the baby from heat loss
