Determinants of exclusive breast feeding among mothers in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Introduction: One of the easiest and most economical ways to assure a healthy child's survival is Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF). The World Health Organization states that a child should continue breast milk feeding during first six months of life followed by complementary foods until two years of age.

Objective: To determine the impact of exclusive breast feeding and factors influenced on its duration in a tertiary hospital of Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

Materials & Methods : A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Out Patient Departments of Pediatrics and Gynecology in Aziz Fatimah Hospital Faisalabad, from April 2023 to September 2023 on a sample of 384 mothers taken through non-probability convenience sampling. Data were collected & analyzed by SPSS 25 for descriptive and comparative statistics; the Chi square test was used for comparisons and p≤0.05 was taken as significant.

Results:Out of the 384 participants, the frequency of exclusive breastfeeding was 179(46.6%) up to 6 months of age. The mean age of mother was 29.04 years. Majority of mothers (72.9%) were belonging to urban areas. Association of EBF with age of mother was (p=0.008), number of antenatal visits (p=0.02), occupation (p=0.002), age of child (p=0.001) was recorded.

Conclusion: The exclusive breastfeeding practices for infants & young children are strongly linked to maternal antenatal visits, employment, and the age of the child.