Determinants of Breast Milk Substitute Use for Mothers with Infants Less Than Six Months in Jigjiga City, Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Background. Breast milk substitute (BMS) is any food being marketed or otherwise presented as a partial or total replacement for breast milk, whether or not suitable for that purpose. Determinant use of breastmilk substitutes for infant feeding despite the WHO recommendation have been the subject of various research studies. However, there are limited data in the developing countries, particularly in the study area. The purpose of this study was to assess determinant the use of BMS for mothers with infants less than six months in Jigjiga city. Methods. Quantitative Community based matched case-control was conducted from 24th of June, 2019 to 6th of August, 2019, using interviewer administered questionnaire. This study included 160 mothers with infants less than six months. Data were cleaned and exported to SPSS version 20 and both descriptive and analytical analyses were executed. The level of significance was set at P<0.05. Binary logistic regression was used to produce summary of statistics including crude and adjusted odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals. Result. the study identified six main variables as influencers for use of BMS among mothers with infants less than six months, after multivariate logistic regression analysis, lack of breastfeeding counselling during antenatal and postnatal care visits, infants older than three months, unhealthy infants at birth and exposure of BMS before delivery were independent associated with use BMS. Conclusion. Commercial promotion of breastmilk substitute through local Medias is very common in study area, as result of this, confidence of mother to exclusively breast feed infants is significantly affected. These alarms more work on strengthening counselling, particularly, age specific counselling on exclusive breastfeeding at health facilities and through local Medias, to counteract promotion of breastmilk substitutes from others TVs in Somalia and female merchants.