Breastfeeding Practices among Mothers in a Gwiwa Community in Sokoto Town

Abstract

Background: Breast feeding is the optimal nutritional source for infant. Optimal breastfeeding practices have been a challenge in our community and have contributed to poor nutritional status, increasing infant morbidity and mortality.

Objectives: To determine the exclusive breastfeeding practices and the nutritional status of the young children in a semi-urban community in Sokoto.

Methods: A cross-sectional study carried out in Gwiwa community, Wammakko LGA, Sokoto state between January 1st and June 30th, 2019. Three hundred mothers with children aged less than 24 months were interviewed using structured interviewer questionnaire. Socio-economic status was determined using Oyedeji’s classification. The nutritional status was determined using WHO classification of malnutrition. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20.0.A p-value ?0.05 was considered as significant.

Results: One hundred and forty (46.7%) of the respondents were aged 15 – 24 years and 158 (52.7%) were of low socio-economic class. Sixty-eight (22.7%) of the mothers commenced breastfeeding within the first hour of the delivery and 55 (18.3%) of the children were exclusively breastfed. One hundred and fifty-nine (53.0%) of the mother studied initiated complementary feeding in their infants at 6-8 month of age with the mean age of 5.7(±2.6) months. Two hundred and fifty-four (84.7%) used home-made cereal gruel. The median age of cessation of breast feeding was 17 months. The maternal age, educational and socio-economic statuses significantly related to the optimal breastfeeding practice (p< 0.05).

Conclusion: The practice of exclusive breastfeeding and expressed breast milk is very low in this community. There is need for community sensitization towards improving exclusive breastfeeding practices.

Key words: Complementary, Feeding, Practice, Nutritional, Status, Under-5.