Abstract:
Early initiation of
breastfeeding (BF) has been recommended by the World
Health Organization (WHO) for optimum infant growth
and development. Objectives: To determine the factors
associated with early initiation of BF, exclusive
breastfeeding (EBF) duration and timely introduction of
complementary feeding. Methods: This was a quantitative
descriptive cross-sectional design that involved 391
mothers sampled conveniently. Early initiation of BF,
EBF duration, time of introduction of complementary
foods and the types of complementary foods fed infants
were documented. Proportions were presented for the
outcome variables. Chi square and Fishers exact tests
were used to evaluate the associations between the
outcome variables and the independent predictor variables.
Results: The mothers were aged between 15-45 years and
84% initiated BF within 30 minutes to 1 hour after
delivery. Less than half (46%) of respondents initiated
complementary feeding (CF) at six months postpartum.
About 40.4% fed infants formula milk during the
complementary period, 32.2% fed infants locally prepared
foods during the complementary period. There was a
statistically significant association between gender of
child (χ2= 2.7; p< 0.01) and exclusive breastfeeding for
six months. Maternal factors were significantly associated
with knowledge level in EBF duration (χ2=18.34; p <
0.0001) and time of initiation of breastfeeding (χ2=22.40;
p < 0.0001). Institutional factors that showed statistical
significance exclusive breastfeeding for six months were
place of delivery (χ2=14.60; p< 0.001) and presence of
attendant at birth (χ2=14.18; p<0.003). Conclusion:
Maternal and types of health facilities that mothers visited
during antenatal and where the delivered influenced BF
initiation, duration and appropriate complementary
