Exclusive breastfeeding and its associated socio-demographic factors in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Promotion of proper breastfeeding practices for the first six months of life is the most cost-effective intervention for reducing childhood morbidity and mortality. However, the adherence to breastfeeding recommendations in many developing countries including Bangladesh is not satisfactory. Objectives: To find out the breastfeeding status in children up to six months of age and the socio-demographic factors associated with the breastfeeding practices. Methods: This was a cross-sectional type of descriptive study conducted at Pediatric Out Patient Department (OPD), Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. All the children up to 6 months of age attending with their mothers at Pediatric OPD constituted the study population. Total 354 children were enrolled in this study purposively. Data were collected by a pretested semi structured questionnaire by face-to-face interview of the attending mothers. Chi-square test was applied to find out the association between the breastfeeding status and the socio-demographic characteristics of the children.  Results: A total of 354 children, only 63 (17.8%) were breastfed within one hour of their birth, 122 (34.5%) were introduced pre-lacteal feeding, 258 (72.9%) received colostrum and 215 (60.7%) were exclusively breastfed (EBF). Bivariate analysis revealed that young (p=0.0001), day labourer (p=0.0164) and illiterate mothers (p=0.0000) significantly less exclusively breastfed their babies up to 6 months. The babies of illiterate fathers (p=0.0000) and having high monthly family income (p=0.0001) were also less exclusively breastfed. Conclusion: Exclusive Breastfeeding practices should be improved by behavioral change communication of the parents’ special attention on young, day labourer and low educated mothers to keep away from prelacteal foods, initiate the breastfeeding within one hour of newborns birth and maintain EBF up to 6 months avoiding the early weaning reassuring about the sufficiency of their breast milk.