Prelacteal feeding and associated factors among newborns in rural Sidama, south Ethiopia: a community based cross-sectional survey

Abstract

BackgroundThe practice of giving prelacteal feeds deprive a newborn of valuable nutrients and expose the newborn to risks of infection. Despite its negative health outcomes, prelacteal feeding prevails in Ethiopia. Therefore, the current study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of prelacteal feeding practices and its associated factors in a rural community in south Ethiopia.MethodsWe conducted a community based cross-sectional study of 597 mothers of children aged less than six months. Mothers were selected using a multistage cluster sampling technique from Hawela Tula, a rural catchment under Hawassa City Administration. Newborns exposed to any foods, substances or drinks other than human milk before the initiation of breastfeeding or during the first three days of birth were regarded as receiving prelacteal feeds. Descriptive summaries were done to present the main findings; bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were undertaken to identify variables associated with prelacteal feeding practices.ResultsAmong the total infants, 25.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 23.5%, 27.5%) were found to be exposed to prelacteal feeds. Boiled water (36.8%) and fresh butter (32.2%) were the top two prelacteal foods. The prevalence of prelacteal feeding was higher among infants whose mothers are housewives, and among infants born to mothers aged between 21 and 34 years. Almost two-third (64.3%) of mothers who exposed their newborn to prelacteal feeds did so with advice from their parents. Mothers who had poor knowledge on breastfeeding were nine times more likely to practice prelacteal feeding compared to those with good knowledge (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 8.9, 95% CI 4.2, 18.7). Lack of knowledge on the risks associated with prelacteal feeding (AOR 6.8; 95% CI 2.6, 17.8) and misconceptions about breastfeeding (AOR 8.1; 95% CI 3.9, 16.6) were associated with prelacteal feeding. However, mothers’ place of delivery and attendance at breastfeeding counseling sessions showed no association with the practice of prelacteal feeding.ConclusionsPrelacteal feeding is commonly practiced in the study area. Raising women’s awareness on the consequences of prelacteal feeding is warranted. Involving parents of women when promoting optimal infant feeding practices should be emphasized.

Prevalence and determinants of pre-lacteal feeding in South Sudan: a community-based survey

“…For example, a report from Eastern Uganda by Engebretsen et.al [26], found that 57% of mothers had given pre-lacteal feeds. Nevertheless, a lower prevalence of PLF was reported from the Kilimanjaro region in northern Tanzania (1%) [27], and from northwest (26.8%) [28] and south Ethiopia(25.5%) [7]. Whereas some low income countries have extension community health workers who move among the villages promoting recommended maternal and newborn care practices [7], such programs are non-existent in South Sudan.…”

“…Nevertheless, a lower prevalence of PLF was reported from the Kilimanjaro region in northern Tanzania (1%) [27], and from northwest (26.8%) [28] and south Ethiopia(25.5%) [7]. Whereas some low income countries have extension community health workers who move among the villages promoting recommended maternal and newborn care practices [7], such programs are non-existent in South Sudan. The lack of organized programs that specifically focus on promotion of breastfeeding might explain the high prevalence of PLF in our study.…”

“…Pre-lacteal feeding (PLF) is defined as giving newborns liquids or foods other than breastmilk before breastfeeding is established. It is one of the practices jeopardizing optimal breastfeeding in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) [6,7]. The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), in its 10 steps to successful breastfeeding, discourages this practice [8].…”

Factors associated with prelacteal feeding practices in Debre Berhan district, North Shoa, Central Ethiopia: a cross-sectional, community-based study

“…This harmful prelacteal feeding practice has been widely documented in almost all administrative regions of Ethiopia. The magnitude of prelacteal feeding practices reported in the whole country ranges 15 to 45.5% [7,8,[10][11][12][13][14]. The predictors of prelacteal feeding practices were found to be: socio-demographic characteristics, Ante-Natal Care, place of delivery, Post-Natal Services and counseling services received on infant feeding and early initiation of breastfeeding [7,8,[10][11][12][13].…”

A Comparative Study of Anthropometric Measurements between Tribal and Non-Tribal Girls of Tripura

“…Most studies show that infant feeding practices are inadequate in marginalized communities (Exavery et al 2015;Horii et al 2017;Khan et al 2017). These communities also initiate late breastfeeding (Alebel et al 2017), and fed prelacteals (Chea and Asefa 2018;Jama et al 2017;Thepha et al 2018). In addition to these practices, similarly in other studies, mothers, showed that they neglected full exclusive breastfeeding and followed partial exclusive breastfeeding (Mohamed et al 2018;Quinlivan et al 2015).…”