Abstract
BackgroundExclusive breastfeeding is defined as feeding an infant breast milk only, for the first six months. In Ethiopia, more than half of infants do not receive exclusive breastfeeding. Workplace barriers contribute to these low rates of exclusive breastfeeding practices. Understanding the sociodemographic, health related, behavioral and economic factors is crucial to promote the practice of exclusive breastfeeding in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the extent of exclusive breastfeeding practice and associated factors among employed and unemployed mothers with children of age 7–12 months in Gondar town, northwest Ethiopia, 2015.MethodsA community based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2015. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 649 eligible mothers with children age 7–12 months during the study period. A structured and pretested interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Three logistic regression models: whole sample, employed and not employed, were fitted.ResultsA total of 649 (333 unemployed and 316 employed) mothers were interviewed. The mean duration of mothers to exclusively breastfeed was 4.77 months (± 1.36 Standard Deviation [SD]). Exclusive breastfeeding was higher among unemployed 48.0% with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) (42.0%, 54.0%) than employed (20.9%) with 95% CI (16.0%, 25.0%). Parity of three children and above (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 3.48), and having social support (AOR = 3.45) were positively associated with exclusive breastfeeding while poor knowledge (AOR = 0.30), wealth index of the medium level (AOR = 0.38) were negatively associated among employed mothers. In the case of unemployed mothers, vaginal delivery (AOR = 2.60) and having social support (AOR = 3.03) were positively associated with exclusive breastfeeding while, poor knowledge (AOR = 0.28), and not having antenatal care (AOR = 0.56) were negatively associated.ConclusionsThe overall exclusive breastfeeding practice of mothers was low. However, unemployed mothers breastfeed more than employed mothers. Providing a special support for employed mothers and revising either the legislation of the two month postpartum maternity leave or applying different alternatives is recommended.
Highlights
Exclusive breastfeeding is defined as feeding an infant breast milk only, for the first six months
Unemployed mothers who had poor knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding were 72.2% less likely to practice exclusive breastfeeding compared to those who had good knowledge (AOR 0.28, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.14, 0.54) and mothers who had no social support were 66.6% less likely to breastfeed exclusively as compared with those who were supported (AOR 0.33, 95% CI 0.16, 0.71)
This study revealed that the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practice was 20.9% among employed mothers and 48.0% among unemployed mothers
Summary
Exclusive breastfeeding is defined as feeding an infant breast milk only, for the first six months. The aim of this study was to assess the extent of exclusive breastfeeding practice and associated factors among employed and unemployed mothers with children of age 7–12 months in Gondar town, northwest Ethiopia, 2015. In Southeast Ethiopia, a study found that only 33% of employed mothers practiced EBF while 73% of unemployed mothers feed their children exclusively for the first six months [7]. This difference was a little lower in a study conducted in the north western part of the country which reported 44% and 65% of EBF among employed and unemployed mothers, respectively [8]
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