Abstract

  The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have identified Early Initiation of Breast Feeding (EIBF) and Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) in the first six months of life as goal - oriented strategies for optimal nutrition in early childhood. However, this is yet to be reached in developing countries of which Nigeria is one. The study was designed to determine the prevalence of early initiation of breast feeding and exclusive breastfeeding and the factors associated with the practices in the study area. The study was a cross-sectional study conducted among mothers attending selected Primary Health Care Centres in Gombe Metropolis, Nigeria. By systematic random sampling technique, Two-hundred and nine mothers of children aged 6-23 months were sampled. By utilizing a short-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire, data on socio-demographic characteristics, awareness and practices around EIBF and EBF was collected. The prevalence of EIBF in the study was 83.3% and EBF was 41.3%. EIBF and EBF had a significant relationship with mother’s age (p-value=0.001 and p-value=0.009 respectively). There was significant association between EBF and other independent variables including mother’s educational level (p-value= 0.014) and awareness of EBF (p-value=0.009). There was no significant association with EBF and father’s monthly income and mother’s occupation. To derive long-term benefits from early childhood nutrition, interventions should focus on girl child education and community-based sensitization programmes on the need for all mothers to engage in EIBF and EBF for global development.

Keywords: Early Initiation of Breastfeeding; Exclusive Breastfeeding; Ante-natal Clinic;; Early Childhood Nutrition; Breastfeeding Practice

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Citation

Citation: Kelechi-Ebisike Vivian O., et al . “Prevalence of Early Initiation of Breastfeeding (EIBF) and Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) and Some Associated Factors among Mothers in Gombe Metropolis, Gombe State, Nigeria". Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 4.1 (2020): 130-135.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Kelechi-Ebisike Vivian O., et al . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.