Fasting During Ramadan And Associated Factors Among Muslim Lactating Mothers, At Public Health Centers Of Jimma Town, Oromia, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Nutrition experts recommend optimal dietary intake during lactation to meet the nutritional requirement of infants. Religious and cultural factors are usually found to have substantial influence maternal dietary intake. It is plausible to consider fasting during this period as important factor to hinder lactation quantity and quality. However, many nursing mothers fast during Ramadan and continue breast feeding. Objective: To assess the magnitude of Fasting during Ramadan and associated factors among Muslim lactating mothers, in public health centers of Jimma town, Oromia, South west Ethiopia, 2021. Methods: Facility based cross -sectional study was conducted in Jimma town from January1 to July 30, 2021. Structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from 375 lactating mothers selected consecutively. Epi data 3.1 was used for data entry and SPSS version 20 was used for analysis. The descriptive statistics was employed first. After bivariate; Binary logistics regression was used, those with p-value ≤0.25 was entered in to multiple Logistic regression, to identify independent predictors of fasting. AOR was used to assess the magnitude of association while, 95% CI and p-value ≤ 0.05 was used to assess the significancy of association.