Factors Influencing Exclusive Breast Feeding Among Post Natal Mothers:

Abstract

Increasing breast feeding could save 800,000 children and over $300 billion every year (WHO, 2016). Globally, an estimated 1 in 3 infants under 6 months are exclusively breastfed- a rate that has not improved in the past 2 decades. It is important for mothers to know that breast milk contains the exact nutrients a baby needs, it is easily digested and efficiently used by the baby’s body, it protects the baby against infections and babies should start breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth. Despite all these known benefits, the rate of exclusive breast feeding among mothers in Uganda remains low. Therefore, this study is going to investigate factors influencing exclusive breast feeding among post natal mothers in Entebbe General Hospital. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 358 mothers and quantitative methods of data collection were used to collect data from the respondents. The results from the study indicated that the prevalence of exclusive breast feeding among mothers at Entebbe General Hospital was low at 21%. Among the mothers who practiced exclusive breast feeding, the reasons included proper feeding for the baby, bonding with the mother, immunity of the baby and being influenced by their spouse, peers or health workers. The reasons for not exclusively breast feeding reported by the respondents included sickness of the mothers, mothers being busy, lack of milk in the breasts of the mothers, sickness of the baby and the death of the mother. The socio-demographic factors such as age (p=0.002), level of education (p=0.014), occupation of the mother (p=0.004) and average monthly income (p=0.001) were found to have a statistically significant association (p<0.005) with practicing exclusive breast feeding. Health facility factors such as having received breast feeding education at the health facility (p=0.018) and delivering from a health facility (p=0.024) were found to have a statistically significant association (p<0.05) with exclusive breast feeding. Therefore, health workers at Entebbe General Hospital should conduct continuous health education as regards exclusive breast feeding among mothers during antenatal care and post-natal care so as to provide sufficient information on the benefits of exclusive breast feeding for the babies as well as the dangers of not doing so. And mothers should attend both antenatal and post natal care services so as to access information on exclusive breast feeding.