Sociodemographic Factors Affecting the Practices of Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Mothers Attending Brikama District Hospital, West Coast Region, The Gambia (original) (raw)

Abstract: World Health Assembly resolution emphasized on countries to ensure that maternal and child nutrition especially the six global targets are met by 2025, and it was all clamored for more efforts to be put on increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding by 50%. To support a child's best growth and development, exclusive breastfeeding should be observed for the first six months after birth followed by supplemental feeding for two years or longer. This study investigates the sociodemographic factors influencing the practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers with children who are two years or less attending antenatal care in Brikama Health Center, The Gambia. Structured and pretested interviews and questionnaires were used to obtain data from study participants respectively. Face-to-face interviews with mothers on their clinic days were used to collect data during the one-month study period and descriptive statistics were carried out using SPSS for Windows version 20.0. A total of 384 women participated in this study, out of which, the majority, 240 (62.5%) of participants had exclusively breastfed their babies. Above half 168 (44%) of the mothers had breastfed their babies on demand, majority of them 49 (21%) reported that they had given their babies lactating milk or bformulaulae food before the sixth month. The results show a significant relationship between Type of family (p=0.002), Religion (p=0.035), Ethnicity (p=0.005), Type of deliveries (p=0.023), and Place of birth (p=0.001) and practice of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Concerning the frequency of EBF, Educational status and Occupation showed a significant relationship (p=0.032 and 0.051) respectively. Type of family, religion, ethnicity, type of delivery, place of birth, educational status, mother's occupation, and child's sex were the sociodemographic characteristics that influenced exclusive breastfeeding in this study. In planning exclusive breastfeeding intervention programs, these factors need to be considered. Keywords: Exclusive Breastfeeding, Brikama, Practice, Socio-Demographic, Mothers