Publication:

Exclusive breastfeeding practices and predictors among mothers attending child care immunization services in Ebonyi state, Nigeria

Background Low adoption of exclusive breast feeding among mothers and its impact on the infants has been attributed to several factors. The im of the study was to assess exclusive breastfeeding practices and predictors among women attending child care immunization services at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA).

Methods The design of this study is cross-sectional survey. The population of the study comprised of 2100 women who registered for child care immunization services at Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki from the month of January-March, 2023. Convenience sampling technique was used in selecting the participants. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, frequency counts and percentages and t test statistics.

Results The results showed that the exclusive breastfeeding practices of the women were high (3.33±0.39). Also, EBP of the women was high based on age and parity. Although, there was no significant difference in the exclusive breastfeeding practices based on parity (p>0.05). However, there was significant difference in the exclusive breastfeeding practices based on age of the mothers (p<0.05).

Conclusions The study concluded that to sustain the high practices of exclusive breastfeeding among women attending child care immunization services at AE-FUTHA, there is need to continue to engage them on seminars, workshops and conferences by health workers on the days of immunization with special focus to the younger age of the mothers in order to sustain the high EBPs.