Why exclusively breastfeed

For infants to survive, grow and develop properly they require the right proportion of nutrients. Breast milk is rich in nutrients and anti-bodies and contains the right quantities of fat, sugar, water and protein. These nutrients are major pre-requisites to the health and survival of the baby. The district has 30 kebeles lowest local administrative units. The district has a total population of , of whom 30, are women in the reproductive age group 15—49 years.

There also 20, under-five age children and infants less than one year of age. The district has six health centers and 26 health posts that provide health services to the community [ 22 ]. As we have used two stage sampling, a design effect of 1. Therefore, the final sample size was estimated to be mother-infant pairs.

Among the 30 kebeles in the district, seven were selected using the simple random sampling technique to achieve the primary sampling units. The total sample size was allocated to the seven kebeles proportionally, based on the number of mother-infant pairs in each kebeles received from the district health office. Sample mother-infant pairs were selected using the systematic random sampling technique with a sampling interval of three. In order to source infants eligible for the study, we moved from village to village of each selected kebeles, assessing each and every household.

Out of the first three households with infants eligible for the study, the second household was selected randomly as a random start. Then, out of households with infants aged between 6 and 12 months, every three mother-infant pair were included in the sample.

Data were collected using interviewer administered structured questionnaire which was designed to assess EBF practice and associated factors. Each mother with an infant aged between 6 and 12 months was interviewed in order to get data regarding EBF practice and factors associated with it.

The questionnaire included socioeconomic, obstetric, health, and health service related characteristics. In order to maintain the quality of data, the questionnaire was translated from English to Amharic and back to English for consistency. Training that included field practice was given to data collectors and supervisors in kebeles which were not included in the main study. On-site supervision was carried out by the investigators and supervisors, and feedback was given.

The dependent variable of the current study is exclusive breastfeeding, and an infant fed only breast milk except taking vitamins, mineral supplements, or medicines until six months [ 1 ] was included as exclusive breastfeeding. The independent variables considered in this study include maternal age, marital status, maternal education, maternal occupation, monthly family income, antenatal care, breastfeeding counseling, place and mode of delivery, and HIV status of mothers.

Family monthly income was categorized into five levels, and the lowest level was taken as a reference category.

A health post is the lowest health facility structure in Ethiopian health tier system. Data were entered, coded and cleaned, using Epi-info version 7. Text descriptions, tables, charts, and graphs were used to describe the relevant findings of the study. Because there were relatively a large number of independent variables considered in this study, we had to screen them using the bivariate logistic regression to minimize the chance of multicollinearity in the multivariate logistic regression.

Thus, only those independent variables with a p - values of 0. Variables with p - value less than 0. Out of a total of eligible mother-infant pairs, participated in this study with a response rate of The mean age of mothers was Four hundred twenty-five mothers More than half Of all the study participants, Out those who had antenatal care, Four hundred thirty eight Among all mothers who participated in the study, nearly three-fourths Similarly, among mothers who were attended by health professionals during delivery, In the bivariate logistic regression, sex, marital status, educational status, HIV status of the mothers, and counseling about breastfeeding during antenatal care were not found to have statistically significant association with EBF at p - value of 0.

However, variables including maternal age, family monthly income, occupation of the mother, place of delivery, counseling about breastfeeding after delivery, and five other variables were included in the multivariable logistic regression model. Similarly, mothers who did not receive counseling about breastfeeding after delivery reduced the odds of EBF by This study has attempted to assess the magnitude of exclusive breastfeeding practice and associated factors during the first six months of infant life among mother-infant pairs in Gozamin district, northwest Ethiopia.

The prevalence of EBF was This finding was greater than that of a study conducted in Dabat district, northwest Ethiopia, whose prevalence of EBF was This difference could be the result of efforts and multi-sectoral collaborations that have been made by the Government of Ethiopia on child nutrition since [ 14 ], while the studies mentioned above used data collected before the implementation of these revised national nutrition programs.

In addition, the national study included samples from the less developed and pastoral regions with less health service coverage, which might have resulted in less awareness about exclusive breastfeeding.

Regarding factors that could affect EBF, occupation of the mother, place of delivery, and breastfeeding counseling after delivery were statistically significantly associated with EBF practice.

Accordingly, government employed mothers were less likely to practice EBF compared to housewife mothers. This finding is in line with those of studies done in the rural communities of northwest Ethiopia [ 24 ], eastern region of Ghana [ 25 ], Kinshasa [ 7 ], and Saudi Arabia [ 26 ].

Perhaps this is because employed mothers have no time to exclusively breastfeed their infants, or they have short maternity leave to stay with and establish breastfeeding their newborn babies, or they lack convenient locations to breastfeed at their working places. On the contrary, a study done in Bangladesh showed that mothers working outside their houses were more likely to practice exclusive breastfeeding.

The possible explanation for this difference might be that in Bangladesh most women take their babies to their work places [ 27 ]. In this study, mothers who delivered at health institutions were more likely to practice exclusive breastfeeding compared to mothers who delivered at home.

These findings were similar to a study done at Dabat Health and Demographic Surveillance System site in northwest Ethiopia [ 24 ] and Ghana [ 28 ]. World Health Organization. WHO Breastfeeding website external icon. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reasons for earlier than desired cessation of breastfeeding external icon.

Sriraman NK, Kellams A. Breastfeeding: What are the barriers? Why women struggle to achieve their goals external icon. J Womens Health Larchmt. Top of Page. Newborns have very immature immune systems and are highly vulnerable. Breast-milk offers immediate protection as well as immune stimulation. Suboptimum breastfeeding is estimated to cause One study found that for every 1, babies not breastfed, there were 2, extra physician visits, extra hospitalization days, and extra prescriptions for three illnesses alone - ear, respiratory, and gastrointestinal infection.

Adolescents and adults who were breastfed as children score 2 to 5 points higher on cognitive development scores than children who were not. Breastfeeding is also associated with higher educational achievement.