Breastfeeding practices among Jordanian women

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore Jordanian women's breastfeeding beliefs and practices including exclusive breastfeeding. A descriptive cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of 200 Jordanian mothers was used. The majority of mothers were muliparous and were recruited from primary health-care centres within 6 weeks of a normal vaginal birth or an instrumental delivery. Eligible women, who met the inclusion criteria, were invited to participate in the study. A sociodemographic data form and a 14-item questionnaire concerning different aspects of breastfeeding beliefs and practices were developed for self administration. This study indicated high early initiation of breastfeeding. Most mothers gave supplements other than breastfeeding, including water without knowing that this supplementation could affect exclusive breastfeeding or the continuation of breastfeeding. Finding of this study shed some light on the current breastfeeding practices including exclusive breastfeeding among Jordanian women. Women need to be better educated about breastfeeding. Therefore, more efforts and resources should be put into providing opportunities for education to discuss breastfeeding during antenatal care. This Jordanian study could be relevant to Arabic women in the West, because cultural beliefs and practices are likely to be part of immigrant woman's perceptions about breastfeeding practices.

Breastfeeding Knowledge and Practices among Mothers of Children under 2 Years of Age Living in a Military Barrack in Southwest Nigeria

“…[8] In the Northern part of Africa, exclusive breastfeeding rates in Egypt and Eritrea have been reported to be 78% and 76% respectively. [30] These are similar to the rates reported in this study. In a community based study in Turkey, 50.6% of the respondents were exclusively breastfeeding their babies.…”

Breastfeeding practices, beliefs, and social norms in low-resource communities in Mexico: Insights for how to improve future promotion strategies

“…The other reason was the belief that infants need water in addition to breast milk to properly hydrate, and the use of teas for treating colic, beginning soon after birth. Other studies have shown similar beliefs and practices among low-resource populations, who, soon after birth, similarly supplemented breast milk with water for thirst and other foods or formula for fear the baby would remain hungry or not be sufficiently fed [34,35]. Most likely the population believes that is how one should feed an infant and does not distinguish the difference and definition of exclusive versus non-EBF.…”

Constraints to exclusive breastfeeding practice among breastfeeding mothers in Southwest Nigeria: implications for scaling up

“…Earlier, Spencer argued that exploring mothers' breastfeeding experiences as defined within a social context could reveal the inherent complexities mitigating the successfully promotion of sustainable breastfeeding practices [23]. Similarly, Oweis, Tayem, and Froelicher decried the inadequacy of studies investigating breastfeeding mothers' perspectives on breastfeeding barriers and promoting healthy breastfeeding practices [24]. Hence, this study adopts a mixed method design in exploring nursing mothers' breastfeeding practices, beliefs, experiences, and constraints to exclusive breastfeeding.…”