Factors associated to the cessation of exclusive breastfeeding in rural and urban areas in Mali

Abstract

The study had for object to identify factors associated to the cessation of the exclusive breast-feeding at the mothers of children from 0 to 6 months in the urban and rural circles in Mali. The study was longitudinal forward-looking, realized in Bamako (urban area) and in Dialakoroba (rural area) from April till November, 2016. in total, 218 mothers were enlisted (114 by area) in a voluntary way in health centers. A monthly follow-up of six months was realized in the place of residence. The SPSS 20 software was used for the seizure and the data analysis. The expected event was to give to the child another food than maternal milk. Test statistics such as Chi2 of Log Rank and Hazard Ratio (HR) were used with threshold of meaning p ≤ 0,05. In urban zones and rural respectively 68,5 % and 71,5% of the mothers had stopped the Exclusive Breast-feeding (EBF) before six months. Factors associated to this cessation of the EBF were: the use of the feeding-bottle (HR=2,61; IC 95%: [1,46-4,48]), the care of the child during less than three months as main occupation (HR=3,18; IC 95%: [1,95-5,20]), the support for the mother during less than three months (HR=3,79; IC 95%: [2,31-6,22]), the advice(council) on the EBF (HR=0,64; IC 95%: [0,46-0,98]) and the experience (experiment) of breastfeeding (HR=0,34; IC 95%: [0,15-0,84]). The consideration of the identified factors(mailmen) will allow to improve the practice of the EBF in six months in the sites of the study.