Determinants of exclusive breastfeeding practice to infants aged less than six months in Offa district, Southern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundWorld Health Organization (WHO) recommends timely initiation of breastfeeding after birth and only feeding breast milk to infants during the first 6 months of life. It was estimated that exclusive breastfeeding can reduce infant deaths by 13%. The practice of exclusive breastfeeding is suboptimal in many parts of Ethiopia to a varied extent. Factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding practice and the proportion of its practice was not well documented in Offa district. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the determinants of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life in Offa district, Southern Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in 396 mothers of infants younger than 6 months using random sampling. Data were collected from mothers of the infants by trained interviewers. Exclusive breastfeeding was measured by the history of infant feeding in the prior 24 h. Pretested and structured questionnaires adopted from standard questionnaires and Ethiopia linkages modules were used. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors significantly influencing exclusive breastfeeding practice.ResultsBased on findings of this study of 396 participants, the proportion of exclusive breastfeeding was 78.0% and awareness of exclusive breastfeeding and bottle feeding were 85.6 and 6.1% respectively. About 6% of infants were given prelacteal feeds. The number of infants fed cow milk was 12.9%, formula 7.8%, water 8.5%, fruits and semisolids 1.5%, over 24 h prior to the survey. The initiation of breastfeeding within one h (AOR 2.2; 95% CI 1.1, 4.27), attending formal education (AOR 4; 95% CI 2.20, 7.25), having an awareness on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding (AOR 6; 95% CI 3.10, 11.70) and knowledge of colostrum feeding (AOR 2.1; 95% CI 1.11, 4.27) had a statistically significant association with exclusive breastfeeding in the study area.ConclusionsThe practice of exclusive breastfeeding as well as awareness was worthy in Offa district. Additionally the proportion of bottle feeding use was small. However, feeding other than breast milk was associated with the perception that breast milk alone was insufficient for their child. Strategies on promoting exclusive breastfeeding practice must focus on strengthening women’s education and awareness creation activities further.

Effect of gender of new-born, antenatal care and postnatal care on breastfeeding practices in Ethiopia: Evidence from systematic review and meta-analysis of national studies

“…Mothers who had at least one ANC visit had 2.24 times significantly higher chance of exclusively breastfeed compared with mothers who had no ANC visit. Egger's regression test for funnel plot asymmetry was not significant (z = 1.69, p = 0.09) (Supplementary Furthermore, seven studies 40,42,47,50,51,53,57 reported the association between EBF and PNC in 2,995 mothers (Table 2C). The pooled OR of PNC was 1.86 (95% CI 1.41 -2.47, p <0.0001, I 2 = 63.4%) ( figure 6).…”

“…Out of the 24 studies included, 11 studies 23,24,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] reported the association between EBF and gender of new-born in 6,527 mothers (Table 2A) Twenty-one studies [33][34][35]38,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57] reported the association between EBF and ANC in 16,052 mothers (Table 2B). The pooled OR of ANC was 2.24 (95% CI 1.65 -3.04, p <0.0001, I 2 = 90.9%) ( figure 5).…”

Manifolds boosting severe acute malnutrition burden among children in and around Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia: mini-review

“…Besides the practice of exclusive breastfeeding was 78%; affected by maternal education and awareness on the worth of breast milk for children [8]. As shown timely initiation of complementary feeding was also 34% and still maternal education, paternal education and postnatal care visit had ample effect on timely initiation of complimentary feeding [10].…”

“…Ahead of shown subjects; determinants of infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, occurrence of SAM in under five children and treatment procedures, treatment outcomes of SAM and its predictors were also areas investigated by the researcher [3–5, 7, 8, 10]. The investigations identified the burden of each problem and its key determinants in the studies setting.…”

Impact of Educational Materials on the Duration of Exclusive Breastfeeding Assured by Women Who Delivered at the Souissi Maternity Hospital in Rabat

“…It is one of the few interventions in which survival benefits extend throughout childhood [3]. Indeed, breast milk is the safest, fullest and most ideal food a mother can offer to her newborn, given that it contains all the nutrients the baby needs in the first six months of life [4].…”