Challenges of implementing exclusive breast feeding among working-class mothers in Brass Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Baby Friendly Initiative recommended that Breast milk should be solely fed to newborns from 0 to 6 months on demand, with supplemental feeding continuing after 6 months and working class mothers are not exempted from this recommendation. No single study has been conducted on challenges of working class mothers in Brass Island. This study was designed to identify the challenges of implementing exclusive breastfeeding on working class mothers in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from January to October, 2021 among (n = 251) randomly selected working class mothers who attended infant welfare clinics in two secondary health facilities in Brass Island, Nigeria. Data were collected using a self-structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version20, descriptive and multi-linear regression analyses were carried out. A 95% confidence interval was used to measure the strength of association. Statistical significance was declared at P -value <0.05. Results: Only 90 (36%) of the 251 working-class women exclusively breastfed their children. The majority of the participants (39%) said that job pressure is the most difficult challenge of exclusively breastfeeding practice. Other challenges include a lack of a comfortable environment to breastfeed at work (28%), low breast milk supply (19%), and insufficient time to breastfeed at work (14%). There is also a statistically significant association between the challenges of establishing exclusive breastfeeding and age (p=.000) and educational level (p=.000). However, challenges to implementing exclusive breastfeeding were not associated with marital status (p=.261), religion (p=.161), parity (p=.271), or the age of the nursed child (p=.234). Conclusion: The percentage of working-class mothers who practice exclusively breastfeeding is very low due to identified challenges. There is a need for ongoing education on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and how to deal with the challenges that come with it