A Comparative Study on Factors Leading To Early Weaning Among Urban and Rural Mothers of Infants in Selected Community Areas at Mangalore

Abstract Early weaning is considered as one of the major health issue and it is recognized as the one of the leading cause of mortality and morbidity of infants in many developing countries. A comparative study was done to identify the factors leading to early weaning among mothers of infants in selected areas at Mangalore. Non probability sampling technique and purposive sampling method was used to select 70 early weaned mothers from 300 screened mothers residing at urban area and 50 early weaned mothers from 300 screened mothers of children less than 1 year of age from rural areas at Mangalore. The findings of the study show that there is a significant difference in the number of early weaned mothers of infant when comparing to the urban and rural areas. Hence it is concluded that the early weaning is more common in urban area than in the rural area.