Breast Feeding Inition,exclusive breaskeeding and assocated Foctors Among Mothers in Goba Worda,Bale Zone,Southest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Breastfeeding benefits both maternal and infant health and it is an integral part of reproductive health. In addition as it is the most cost effective infant feeding option it has also economic and developmental benefit. To achieve its health or developmental advantage, it has to be initiated timely, should be exclusive for the first six months, promoted and protected. If so breastfeeding could avert 13-15% of infants’ mortality. In Ethiopia, breastfeeding practices especially timely initiation and exclusive breastfeeding have been affected by many factors. Although, the national infant and young child feeding guideline has been in place since 2004 and on implementation, there is no study which evaluated maternal practices in the study area in this regard. Objective: The overall objective of this study was to assess the level of timely initiation of breastfeeding (TIBF), the frequency and duration of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and associated factors among mothers in Bale Zone, Goba Woreda, South East, Ethiopia, 2009/10. Methods and materials: A community-based cross-sectional study that included both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection was employed. Six hundred and eight mothers were selected by stratified cluster sampling technique. The qualitative data was obtained from 23 respondents. The quantitative data was analyzed by SPSS-16.0 and manual thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data. Result: The prevalence of TIBF and EBF were 52.4% and 71.3%, respectively. Attendance of formal education, being urban resident, institutional delivery and postnatal counselling on BF were significantly associated with TIBF (P<0.05). The median duration of EBF was 3 months and median frequency of EBF was six times per day. Unemployment, age of infants(less than 2 months), not introducing pre-lacteal food in the first three days after delivery, parity and TIBF were directly associated with EBF for the first 6 months. On the multivariable logistic model, being urban residence (AOR=4.1[95%C.I: [2.31-7.30]) and getting postnatal advice/counselling (AOR=2.7[1.86-3.94]) were independent predictors of timely initiation of breastfeeding. Employment status (unemployment) (AOR=10.4[1.51- 71.50]), age of infants(less than 2 months) (AOR=5.6[2.28-13.60]) and average monthly income of mothers (501-1000 ET B/month) (AOR=0.4[0.14-0.90]) were predictors of exclusive breastfeeding. Conclusion: Socio-demographic and economic factors, obstetric and health service related practices/factors were found predictors of TIBF and EBF. Integrated and targeted interventions which encompass all responsible bodies starting from policy makers to the community level are recommended to achieve acceptable limit of timely initiation and exclusive breastfeeding as well as the fourth millennium development goal.