Abstract:
Introduction:Even though breastfeeding is beneficial for mother and child, exclusive breastfeeding rate and early initiation of breastfeeding has not reached pleasing height in many countries. This cross sectional descriptive study aimed at exploring feeding practices of mothers of infants and children 0-24months within the Tema East Sub metro attending child welfare clinic at Manhean health centre in the Tema Metropolis. Methodology:This cross sectional descriptive study employed a structured questionnaire and a simple random sampling technique of YES or NOto collect data on the socio demographic data, prevalence of breast-feeding, factors militating against breast feeding, maternal knowledge on exclusive breast feeding and social support among 355 breastfeeding mothersin the Tema Metropolis. Results:The results of the study show the mean age of the study respondents was 28.57years (SD=±6.04), with the majority of them (33.0%) aged 25-29years. Most of the mothers (82.5%) were currently breastfeeding and 36.6% of them indicated to have practice exclusive breastfeeding. Majority of mothers (63.4%) indicated to have started breast feeding within the first hour after delivery, andwere knowledgeable about the period for exclusive breastfeeding, and the ages at which babies should be given water and liquid/solid foods.Factors such as educational status (having attained a tertiary education)(OR=8.68; 95%CI=2.71-27.82), occupation (being a farmer) (OR=0.03;95%CI=0.00-0.48)* and delivering through a caesarean section (OR=3.36; 95%CI=1.82-6.23) were found to be associated with the practice of exclusive breast feeding among the mothers.
Conclusion:Helping mothers to understanding the factors that influence infant feeding will help in promotion, protecting and supporting breast feeding. Regarding knowledge, the study shows that a relationship exists between level of knowledge and feeding practices, meaning that use of perceived seriousness, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits and perceived barriers/ cuesto actionare important determinants of health behaviour as demonstratedin the health belief model. The practiceof breastfeeding in a particular community depends on the general perception of the community aboutbreastfeeding.
