Attitudes and knowledge of secondary school girls concerning breast feeding.

A 20-item questionnaire on breast feeding was completed by 242 high school girls ranging in age from 15 to 18 years old. Many girls had significant apprehensions concerning breast feeding, including deleterious influences on the mother and ignorance of the benefits for the infant. Most stated that they would be interested in learning about breast feeding during school health lessons. Offering information to teenagers and correcting their apprehensions might help create sounder knowledge upon which mature motivation can be formulated.