Awareness, Initiation, Duration and Challenges to Exclusive Breastfeeding amongst women within the Bamenda Health District, Cameroon

Abstract

This study assessed breastfeeding awareness, initiation, duration and challenges of exclusive breastfeeding amongst women within the Bamenda health district. Two hundred consenting mothers who have had at least one child between the ages of six months and two years were randomly selected to take part in this cross – sectional community based study. A self – administered questionnaire was used to obtain information from participants and data collected analyzed using SPSS version 17.0. Results showed that 75% of the respondents had heard about exclusive breastfeeding from hospitals (71%). The rate of breastfeeding initiation 1 – 2 hours after delivery was 62.0% with 60.5% exclusively breastfed for at least six months. Based on the challenges on the practice of exclusive breastfeeding, most women reported low milk supply (37.5%) as the main physical problem with their breasts and the fact that they have to return to work (43.5%) as the major social challenge. As per their culture, some women reported that breast milk makes a child foolish (28%). In our study, the awareness of exclusive breastfeeding was high (75%) and majority of the mothers initiated breastfeeding 1 – 2 hours (62%) and exclusively breastfed for six months (60.5%). On the challenges to exclusive breastfeeding, low breast milk production was the main physical problem with the breast, the fact that they have to return to work as the main social challenge and some women based on their culture said breast milk makes a child foolish.