Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Timely initiations of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding till six
month of age are the key interventions to reduce child malnutrition and mortality. Even
though breastfeeding is a universal practice in Ethiopia, the optimal breastfeeding is not
widely practiced (1). This study was carried out to assess optimal breastfeeding practice and
associated factors among children under two years old in Adama town, Oromia, Ethiopia.
METHODS: A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted using a quantitative
method of data collection with structured questionnaire. A total of 628 mothers paired with
children under two years old and living within six randomly selected kebeles were included
in the study by employing systematic random sampling method. The data was entered into
Epi data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 16.0 for cleaning and analysis. Bivariate
logistic regression was used to identify the independent predictors of timely initiation of
breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding practices with P-value less than0.05 were taken as
statistically significant.
RESULTS: About 81.8% of respondents initiated breastfeeding within an hour of delivery
and 65% reported exclusive breastfeeding. A multivariate logistic regression analysis
showed mothers who delivered a female child were about 1.7 times more likely not to
initiate timely breastfeeding within an hour of delivery than those delivered male child.
Mothers gave birth through vagina were about 14 times more likely to initiate of
breastfeeding timely than those gave birth through caesarian section. Employed mothers
were about 2 times more likely not to exclusively breastfeed their children. Mothers who
gave birth with vaginal delivery were about 2 times more likely to exclusively breastfeed
their child. Those mothers who got breastfeeding advice during the post natal follow up
were about 2.3 times more likely to breastfed exclusively.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of optimal breastfeeding practice was low looking for the WHO
recommendation and the national IYCF guidelines. Mode of delivery was the strongest independent
predictor factor for both timely initiation and exclusive breastfeeding practices. It’s recommended
that health providers should assist and help those mothers who delivered via cesarean section for
timely initiation and exclusive breastfeeding practices.
