Newborn care is essential to reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity. As mothers are primary caregiver of the neonates, knowledge of mothers regarding neonatal care is very important. Bangladesh successfully reduced child mortality rate but further reduction of child mortality depends on the reduction of neonatal mortality. The aim of this study was to assess awareness of newborn care among the mothers. This cross sectional study was conducted in neonatal ward of Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College Hospital, Sylhet from July 2018 to December 2018. Mothers of 150 admitted neonates were purposively selected as sample and interviewed with a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. Three fifths (58%) of the mothers belonged to the age group between 19 to 25 years where mean age was 25.2 years. About half (49.3%) of them did not complete secondary education. Regarding knowledge, only 16% of the mothers knew the baby should not be bathed in first 3 days. Half of the mothers (52.7%) identified ‘not feeding well’ and a quarter (26%) of the mothers identified ‘no cry or continuous cry’ as danger signs among the newborns. Half of the mothers (48%) correctly mentioned breastfeeding should be started within one hour of birth. Most of the mothers (83.3%) had knowledge regarding immunization. Among the seventeen knowledge related questions, half of the mothers answered up to 8 questions correctly and termed as having poor knowledge. Two third of the mothers (66.7%) mentioned family member as source of knowledge and only one tenth (8.7%) of the mothers mentioned ‘health workers’ as source. Only one fifth (18%) mentioned media as a source of information. Half of the mothers did not have good knowledge regarding neonatal care which is very important to avert neonatal mortality and morbidity. So, health education to the expecting mothers is required to improve knowledge and awareness regarding neonatal care. Methods and media should be devised appropriately for effective health education.

Keywords: Awareness, Newborn care, Mothers.