Abstract
BackgroundThe World Health Organization has recommended that all infants under 6 months should be exclusively breastfed. An understanding of the trend of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) over years and over smaller geographical areas is crucial to monitor the progress made in improving the proportions of infants’ EBF.MethodsData on infant feeding practices on 2315 mother-infant pairs from 2002 to 2014 were extracted from cohorts of women who delivered in the Moshi Municipality. Descriptive statistics were used to establish the trend of EBF up to 1, 3 and 6 months across waves (2002/2004 = wave I, 2005/2012 = wave II and 2013/2014 = wave III), to relate EBF up to 6 months to wealth quintiles and to HIV status of mothers.ResultsThe number of mothers in waves I, II and III were 1656 (71.5%), 256 (11.1%) and 403(17.4%) respectively. The percentages of EBF up to 6 months increased from 5.5, 13.7 to 16.9% from wave I to III. Overall, across the waves, the proportion of EBF up to 6 months among the mothers in the low wealth quintile was 4, 9 and 42%, and 7, 26 and 15% for the ones in the highest wealth quintile. The proportion of EBF up to 6 months has been increasing among HIV positive mothers while fluctuating among their counterparts across the waves.ConclusionThe proportion of EBF up to 6 months has been increasing in the Moshi municipality but is below the national average. While establishing trends of EBF at the national level is commendable, research to establish trends over smaller geographical areas is needed to provide a true picture that may otherwise be masked.
Highlights
There is ever growing evidence of the benefits of breastfeeding (BF) to the child and the mother [1]
The waves were different in the following characteristics; age of the mother, HIV status, parity and education of the mother (p value < 0.05), while similar in marital status and mode of delivery (p value > 0.05), (Table 1)
The proportion of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) to 6 months showed the greatest increase among women of the lowest wealth quintile and those that are HIV positive, while there has been no significant increase among their counterparts
Summary
There is ever growing evidence of the benefits of breastfeeding (BF) to the child and the mother [1]. The short term benefits to the child include the prevention of infections, such as acute respiratory infection and diarrhoea [1], which are among the leading causes of child mortality in low and middle income countries. Breastfeeding provides long term benefits including the potential to prevent Type II diabetes and obesity [2]. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all children are exclusively breastfed (EBF). It has been recommended to have a target of 90% of infants being exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life [1, 3]. It is important to be able to monitor the proportion of EBF and its changes over time towards meeting the set target. The World Health Organization has recommended that all infants under 6 months should be exclusively breastfed. An understanding of the trend of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) over years and over smaller geographical areas is crucial to monitor the progress made in improving the proportions of infants’ EBF
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