Abstract
This paper examined the general trend of timing of breastfeeding initiation among nursing mothers in Nigeria. The time of initiating the first breast milk to an infant by his/her mother is measured as whether it is immediate (before the first hour of birth) or delayed (after the first hour of birth), and the impacts of some socioeconomic and maternal factors on this are determined. Results from this study showed that mother’s age at birth, her enhanced educational status, mothers’ domiciling in urban areas, singleton birth, and mother’s frequent antenatal visits among others contributed positively to early initiation of breastfeeding by Nigerian nursing mothers (P<0.05). In the contrary, delivery through caesarean operation, nursing mothers that delivers at homes instead of hospitals, and the current birth being the first from a mother are all found to militate against early initiation of breastfeeding (P<0.05) among others. General results showed that early breastfeeding initiation experience among nursing mothers in Nigeria significantly improves over time between 1990 and 2008 (P<0.05), although following a sinusoidal pattern. Four waves of national data from the Nigerian Demographic and Health Surveys for 1990, 1999, 2003, and 2008 were employed in the study.
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