Breastfeeding Practices Of Mothers In Ikwuano Local Government In Abia State

ABSTRACT

 This research was carried out among 200 breastfeeding mothers and data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The aim of this cross-sectional survey was to know the breastfeeding practices in lkwuano local government area. Qualitative data were collected from purposively selected breastfeeding mothers with children 0-12 months of age. Majority of the women (90%) had heard about exclusive breastfeeding but only 88.5% could give the correct definition of it. Majority (68%) initiated breastfeeding within 1 hour after birth. Also majority (84.5%) practiced demand feeding which seemed to show that practice of breastfeeding was probably adequate. However exclusive breastfeeding was still inadequate because introduction of other food was within the age range of 3- 6month by some (39.5%) of the mothers. The study further revealed that 29.8% of the breastfeeding mothers introduced infant formula after 6 months while 40.5% introduced solid foods after 6 months implying that only few breastfed exclusively from 0-6months. Therefore, there is need for education, proper exclusive breastfeeding and ways to minimize or avoid any problems.