Investigating factors that influence the practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers in an urban general hospital in Ghana: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

Background

In Ghana, only 52% of mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies and the rate of increase has been steadily slow across all geographical areas of Ghana. The purpose of this study was to determine the various factors that influence exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) among mothers who visited the child welfare clinic at the Tema General Hospital, Accra, Ghana.

Methodology

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at the Child Welfare Clinic of the Tema General Hospital, Accra, Ghana. A random sampling technique was used to recruit mothers with children between the ages of 6 months and 24 months attending the Child Welfare Clinic. Mothers were interviewed with the aid of a structured questionnaire.

Results

Out of the 222 of mothers interviewed, 68.8% of them exclusively breastfed their infants up to 6 months. Mothers who have good knowledge were more than 3 times (AOR = 3.484, 95% CI 1.200, 10.122, P = 0.022) likely to breastfeed their children exclusively. Those who had positive attitudes towards EBF were about 4 times (COR: 4.018, 95% = 1.444, 11.181, P = 0.008) more likely to exclusively breastfeed than those who had poor attitudes towards EBF. Also, mothers whose spouses complained about EBF were about 3 times (AOR: 2.655, 95% CI 0.620, 11.365, P = 0.018) at increased odds of not exclusively breastfeeding their babies.

Conclusions

High rate of EBF among mothers who visited the child welfare clinic was found. The mothers' level of knowledge and attitude towards EBF significantly influenced the 6 months of EBF. Spouses also showed a high influence on whether or not mothers should exclusively breastfeed their babies.

Related collections

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Breastfeeding promotion is a key child survival strategy. Although there is an extensive scientific basis for its impact on postneonatal mortality, evidence is sparse for its impact on neonatal mortality. We sought to assess the contribution of the timing of initiation of breastfeeding to any impact. This study took advantage of the 4-weekly surveillance system from a large ongoing maternal vitamin A supplementation trial in rural Ghana involving all women of childbearing age and their infants. It was designed to evaluate whether timing of initiation of breastfeeding and type (exclusive, predominant, or partial) are associated with risk of neonatal mortality. The analysis is based on 10,947 breastfed singleton infants born between July 2003 and June 2004 who survived to day 2 and whose mothers were visited in the neonatal period. Breastfeeding was initiated within the first day of birth in 71% of infants and by the end of day 3 in all but 1.3% of them; 70% were exclusively breastfed during the neonatal period. The risk of neonatal death was fourfold higher in children given milk-based fluids or solids in addition to breast milk. There was a marked dose response of increasing risk of neonatal mortality with increasing delay in initiation of breastfeeding from 1 hour to day 7; overall late initiation (after day 1) was associated with a 2.4-fold increase in risk. The size of this effect was similar when the model was refitted excluding infants at high risk of death (unwell on the day of birth, congenital abnormalities, premature, unwell at the time of interview) or when deaths during the first week (days 2-7) were excluded. Promotion of early initiation of breastfeeding has the potential to make a major contribution to the achievement of the child survival millennium development goal; 16% of neonatal deaths could be saved if all infants were breastfed from day 1 and 22% if breastfeeding started within the first hour. Breastfeeding-promotion programs should emphasize early initiation as well as exclusive breastfeeding. This has particular relevance for sub-Saharan Africa, where neonatal and infant mortality rates are high but most women already exclusively or predominantly breastfeed their infants.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Sylvanus Kampo: sylvanuskampo@yahoo.com

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Womens Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Womens Health

Title: BMC Women's Health

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6874

Publication date (Electronic): 18 January 2023

Publication date PMC-release: 18 January 2023

Publication date Collection: 2023

Volume: 23

Electronic Location Identifier: 24

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.449729.5, ISNI 0000 0004 7707 5975, School of Medicine, , University of Health and Allied Sciences, ; Ho, Ghana

[2 ]GRID grid.8652.9, ISNI 0000 0004 1937 1485, Department of Physiology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, , University of Ghana, ; Accra, Ghana

[3 ]Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Navrongo, Ghana

[4 ]Department of Pediatric Critical Care, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis TN, Accra, Ghana

[5 ]GRID grid.442305.4, ISNI 0000 0004 0441 5393, Department of Preventive Health Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, , University for Development Studies, ; Tamale, Ghana

[6 ]Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, School of Medicine and Dentistry, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Navrongo, Ghana

Article

Publisher ID: 2164

DOI: 10.1186/s12905-023-02164-y

PMC ID: 9847114

PubMed ID: 36650492

SO-VID: a1a86a95-ab92-4480-bf83-0c11ad6d7a2b

License:

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