Adequate nutrition is one of the major factors required for physical, mental and social growth/development of an infant. Factors such as the type of work, the palm cutters perform have militating against their ability to breastfeed their infants. The objective of this study was to access infant feeding practices of the laborers (palm cutters) Random sampling method was used in selecting the three hundred women that participated in the study from the health care and traditional birth attendants (TBAS) in three cities, namely Omagwa, Isiokpo and Elele, all in Ikwerre local government Areas in Rivers State Nigeria. A survey questionnaires were used to obtain informations on their breastfeeding habits, and their socio-economic characteristics. The study revealed that 35.7% the mothers were teenagers and 95% were married 42% never attended school with 27% of them had monthly income of less than N1,500. A total of 86.4% of the mothers initiated breastfeeding less than 24 hours after delivery. Most of them 82% of them patronized TBAs for their birth. None of the mothers practiced exclusion breastfeeding and above 70% introduced complimentary food before the infant was 3 months old. The result suggest that the palm cutters families need more dietary recommendations about breast-feedings, introduction of liquid/solid foods and proper formula preparation and avoidance of baby bottle tooth decay and treatment of diarrhea and constipation.
