Factors associated with early initiation of breastfeeding among Nepalese mothers: further analysis of Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 2011

Abstract

BackgroundTimely initiation of breastfeeding has been reported to reduce neonatal mortality by 19.1%. The World Health Organisation recommends early initiation of breastfeeding i.e. breastfeeding a newborn within the first hour of life. Knowledge on the rate and the determinants of early initiation of breastfeeding may help health program managers to design and implement effective breastfeeding promotion programs. The aim of this study was to determine the rate and the determinants of early initiation of breastfeeding in Nepal.MethodsThis study used the data from Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2011 which is a nationally representative sample study. Chi square test and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to examine the factors associated with early initiation of breastfeeding (within one hour of birth).ResultsOf 4079 mothers, 66.4% initiated breastfeeding within one hour of delivery. Mothers with higher education (Odds Ratio (OR) 2.56; 95% CI : 1.26, 5.21), mothers of disadvantaged Janjati ethnicity (OR 1.43; 95% CI : 1.04, 1.94), mothers who were involved in agriculture occupation (OR 1.51; 95% CI : 1.16, 1.97), mothers who delivered in a health facility (OR 1.67; 95% CI : 1.25, 2.23), whose children were large at birth (OR 1.46; 95% CI : 1.07, 1.99) were more likely to initiate breastfeeding within the first hour of child birth.ConclusionsResults suggest that two thirds of children in Nepal were breastfed within the first hour after birth. Although there was a higher prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding among mothers who delivered in health facilities compared to mothers who delivered at home, universal practice of early initiation of breastfeeding should be a routine practice. The findings suggest the need of breastfeeding promotion programs among the mothers who are less educated, and not working. Such breastfeeding promotion programmes could be implemented via Nepal’s extensive network of community-based workers.

Factors associated with delayed initiation of breastfeeding: a survey in Northern Uganda

“…Mothers with a secondary education were less likely to delay initiating breastfeeding. This pattern was also observed in a similar study done in Nepal [39], which showed that educated mothers were less likely to delay initiation of breastfeeding. Educated mothers have been shown to feed their children with more attention, discipline, purpose, and intentionality, and this could explain the association observed [40].…”

Factors Associated with Early Initiation and Exclusive Breastfeeding Practices among Mothers of Infant’s Age Less Than 6 Months

“…Similarly our findings showed that maternal education was significantly associated with EIBF, which is in line with a study done in Nepal [14] which indicates that maternal education had significant effect on EIBF. However, it is contrast with a study done in Nigeria where EIBF was not associated with maternal educational level [11].…”

“…In contrast to studies done in Nigeria and Nepal [11,14] our finding showed that mothers' occupational status was not significantly associated with EIBF. Difference in the measure of educational status scale might be the possible explanation for this.…”

Community based study on initiation of breast feeding and determining factors in rural area of Pondicherry

“…The similar trends were seen in other studies. [10][11][12]14 The overall rate of initiation of breast feeding within one hour of birth is 15.8% in India and it has set a National goal to increase the rate by 50% and the practice of initiation of breast feeding colostrum was 75% within one hour of birth and similar higher rate of observation were noted in other parts in India since last 3 years. 1,3,14,15 There are beneficial and additional advantages of breast feeding other than nutritional requirement like affection, mental development of the baby, jaw development, emotional bonding between mother and baby, identification of early signs of illness, delay in growth and development, severity of illness of the baby noticed by lactating mother irrespective of her experience in breast feeding as observed by many studies.…”

“…3,[10][11][12] This study analysed 350 babies with cumulative age of 7378 months during the period of 2 months in the field practice area of department of community medicine. The age of the subject was 6 to 24 months.…”