Mussarat Musera Khan¹, Mamta Verma^2,, Rajratan Gupta³

Introduction Breastfeeding initiation is the critical part of post-natal events, especially after a caesarean delivery. There has been an increase in caesarean section delivery in the past few decades, which has also led to a significant decrease in breastfeeding initiation as early as possible. Methods A descriptive study was conducted to assess the challenges faced by the caesarean delivered mothers in early initiation of breastfeeding and coping strategies adopted by them in order to counter act them. Descriptive statistics, Chi square and Karl Pearsons correlation coefficient were used to find out the frequency, associations and relationship among the study variables. Result The findings revealed that 75 (83.3%) participants faced moderate challenges. Majority of the participants 63 (70%) adopted to partially adaptive coping. Karl Pearson correlation coefficient was r = -0.20 for challenges score with coping strategies adopted. It indicates that there is a negative co- relation between the challenges and coping strategies. Chi square value for p<0.05 was significant for type of caesarean section and challenges score, also for coping strategies and birth weight of infant. Conclusion Majority of the participants did faced challenges in early initiation of breastfeeding but their coping strategies may differ according to their socio- demographics.

initiation, breastfeeding, challenges, caesarean section, coping