Abstract
Objective: To determine the practice of breastfeeding initiation time among mothers of very young infants; the prelacteal contents given to babies and the motivations for giving them prelacteal. Study Design, Setting and Participants: Descriptive cross sectional study in a typical rural setting of Government Primary Healthcare facility where most mothers give birth and avail health services for themselves and the new born in southeast Nigeria. Outcome, Measures and Analysis: Percentage of mothers that initiated breastfeeding within thirty (30) minutes of delivery; Percentage of mothers that introduced prelacteal feeds according to types. Analysis was descriptive using Scientific Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 16) and data presented in percentages and frequencies. Result: Results show that of the 113 mothers studied, only 17% initiated breastfeeding within 30 minutes of delivery while a poor 19%were informed of appropriate early initiation time during antenatal care visits prior to delivery; prevalence of prelacteal feeding practice was common at 75% where water (47%) and glucose water (18%) were the most predominant. Three factors were mostly responsible for early introduction of prelacteal namely, nothing (21% and 8%), baby crying (26% and 9%) and no breast milk yet (17% and 5%) for water and glucose water respectively. Conclusion and Implications: The early introduction ofprelacteal feedsbymothers is premisedon thestrongdesire to give something to the new born soon after delivery while waiting for full breastmilk coming andflow. Itmaybe further spurred by baby crying – a sign mothers and care providers culturally interpret as baby being desperate for something to eat drink. Unfortunately, poor sanitation and hygiene as with lack of access to clean water then results in the huge burden of malnutrition, infection and death of neonates and infants given prelacteal feeds at moments they are yet so delicate and vulnerable as moments following delivery. The studydemonstrates theneed for the development of appropriate information education and communication materials for behavior change targeted at care providers and then mothers with strong emphasis on breastfeeding initiation time and the dangers associated with introduction of prelacteal feeds on the very young infants. Funding: None
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