Breastfeeding knowledge and practices among mothers of children younger than 2 years from a rural area in the Limpopo province, South Africa

Abstract

Appropriate feeding practices during infancy and early childhood are critical for a child's growth and development. [1,2] Breastfeeding provides optimal and complete nutrition during the first 6 months of a baby's life, offers immunologic benefits to the baby and contributes to the psychological relationship between the mother and child. [3,4] The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) therefore recommend that mothers breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months of their baby's life, [4] with nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods being introduced along with continued breastfeeding for up to 2 years. Although breastfeeding is widely practised in developing countries such as South Africa (SA), India and Indonesia, [5-8] previous studies have reported that exclusive breastfeeding is rare. [6-8] The majority of mothers in these settings are reported to introduce complementary liquids within the first 7 days of the infant's life. [6,7] This can be attributed to a lack of knowledge about infant feeding, cultural and socioeconomic factors and inconsistent advice given to new mothers. [9,10-13] According to Meyer et al. [14] and Black et al., [15] SA mothers tend to introduce food, tea and water fairly early while still breastfeeding. Infant feeding practices in SA differ from those conventionally seen in the rest of Africa, as the rate of breastfeeding is low and the use of formula milk is common. [14,16] A study by Mushaphi et al. [5] in villages around the Vhembe district of the Limpopo province of SA showed that 91.3% of infants were given both breastmilk and food, and 95.5% were fed a mixture of breastmilk and water. It is estimated that, globally, only 40% of babies are exclusively breastfed. [17] Knowledge of and a positive attitude towards breastfeeding do not necessarily translate to proper infant feeding practices, as shown by an earlier study from Nigeria. [18] Previous studies have reported mothers' perception of not having enough breastmilk, the return to work or school and poor knowledge about breastfeeding as factors that contribute to a low rate of exclusive breastfeeding. [5,19-21] Family and community pressure was also cited as notable reasons for mothers' early introduction of complementary foods, with previous studies showing that grandmothers or elderly women often advise mothers to introduce complementary foods as early as 1 month after birth owing to the perceived inadequate supply of breastmilk. [5,21,22] Even if mothers have adequate knowledge about infant feeding, a lack of independent decision-making can result in poor infant feeding practices. [23-25] The objective of this study was to determine the level of knowledge about breastfeeding and the associated practice among mothers of children younger than 24 months in rural areas of the Limpopo province, SA. It was conducted as a follow-up to a 2004 study in the province's Vhembe district, which investigated infant feeding practices and the associated nutritional status of children younger ...

Breastfeeding inequities in South Africa: Can enforcement of the WHO Code help address them? – A systematic scoping review

“…The post-2010 period (Table 3 ) after South Africa endorsed the 2010 WHO infant feeding guidelines for HIV-positive women recommending EBF for 6 months irrespective of HIV status resulted in a wide range of EBF rates among HIV-positive (26–99%) and HIV-negative (12–92%) women [ 64 – 69 ]. However, EBF duration was brief (1-3 months) [ 66 , 70 , 71 ]. While initiation of breastfeeding was high, there were low rates of EBF among HIV-negative women with introduction of liquids and other foods prior to 3 months [ 72 – 75 ].…”

Perceptions of Caregivers Regarding Malnutrition in Children under Five in Rural Areas, South Africa

“…Mushaphi et al [ 14 ] conducted a study about recommendations for infant feeding policy and programs in Dzimauli region, South Africa. Motadi et al [ 15 ] focused on breastfeeding knowledge and practices among mothers of children younger than two years from a rural area in the Limpopo Province, South Africa.…”

Nutritional Status and Feeding Practices of Children Aged 0 to 36 Months in Thulamela Municipality, Limpopo Province

“…Poor exclusive breastfeeding practice in the current study is due to the fact that most mothers indicated that returning to schools, in uence by the family members and insu cient milk as the main reason for terminating breastfeeding and introducing complementary food. Similarly, several studies have also reported going back to school or work, insu cient breastmilk as the main reasons for introducing complementary foods early [15,24,27,28,29,30,31]. Despite a high level of awareness by health professionals and Department of Health on exclusive breastfeeding, practicing exclusive breastfeeding is still a problem in many rural areas of South Africa.…”