When ignorance trumpets in the minds of mothers, babies pay with their dear life; they neglect a formidable antidote against minor ailments-Breastfeeding. Shine reporter Usu Ema writes.How many mothers do breastfeed their babies up to six month or more as the pediatricians suggest? Very few, however there are some with understandable reason for instance on health grounds while many fail out of ignorance or just sheer neglect. I recently chanced to talk to a lady acquaintance of mine whom I bumped on in a daladala en route Mbagala my residential place, she is a lady in her early twenties, she carried a baby who kept on crying for the rest of the journey, when I inquired as to why she could not calm the baby with her breast milk, the lady refused saying that she could not do that because she wanted the baby to get accustomed to bottle feeding, I remained spellbound for a minute, then offered what I may term as unsolicited tuition which also apparently didn’t bode well with her.Some of the mothers don’t breastfeed their babies the moment they are born fearing to tamper with the firmness of their breasts and thus compromise the ‘girl’ status which they value so much in this regard, beauty seems to hold sway among many women, a manifestation of which items like, brasserie, lip balm, mirrors are indispensable components of their hand bags. Some career women also claim that breastfeeding may lead to an abrupt loss of weight and regaining it might prove to be a challenge.A recent research done in Bariadi district in Shinyanga by Benjamin Mitundwa, from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) revealed that only twenty two percent(22%) of women in the district breastfeed their newly born babies up to six months as recommended by paedentricians.
From this statistics, one can guess how could it be if the research were to be conducted whole over the country.
In this research 300 women were interviewed and the results showed that 67.3 percent breastfed their babies between the age of four to five months while 86.3 percent said that that they had no knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding.
Exclusive breastfeeding is the best approach recommended where a baby is given only breast milk, the duration for which babies are exclusively breast fed varies among women although the recommended duration is six months. This has been explained as a method of reducing infant deaths and prevention of malnutrition.
In this study, a big number of respondents were between the age of 21-26 years who make 41.3 percent and very few of them aged between 39-44 years. The probable reason for this scenario is the poor educational background which renders them ill-equipped to take care of the children effectively most of them are standard seven leavers.
In this study the mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding for the first five month is found to be 26 percent, a small figure compared to a study done in 2005 in Iran which showed 50 percent practicing exclusive breast feeding. Also the study showed 67.3 percent were exclusively breastfeeding for 4-5 months which is different from the study done (2004) in Tanzania which was 13.5 percent, this is probably due to sample size.
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months in this study is 22 percent below the 76.5 percent of the study done in Ile-Ife Nigeria. This difference is probably due to different geographical location and different culture and customs. Also a small percentage of women do exclusive breastfed for 2-3 months.
In the case of EBF (exclusive breastfeeding) knowledge 55.9 percent of women with secondary education had knowledge while only 4.1 percent of those women who have never attended school have knowledge on EBF. This is similar to the study done in Moshi in 1999 which showed women with secondary education to be more knowledgeable by 21.7 percent compared to 7.8 percent of their uneducated fellows
This proves that those who with education are more aware and have adapted the knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding, in this category 95.9 percent of them were found to be aware of EBF..
Lastly, the study showed that 38 percent of respondents believe that breast milk is an essential food for babies for the first six months of a baby’s life, this is true because of poor RCH (rural community health) attendance among women hence they fail to get health education which is always provided at RCH clinics.
To achieve and reach the targeted number of women with knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding it is recommended that education on breastfeeding should be provided effectively at reproductive and child health clinic by elaborating on exact duration of exclusive breast feeding.
The importance of breastfeeding to the baby and to the mother is very important and mothe
rs should be convinced that breast milk is enough as the only food during the first six months of life.
From this statistics, one can guess how could it be if the research were to be conducted whole over the country.
In this research 300 women were interviewed and the results showed that 67.3 percent breastfed their babies between the age of four to five months while 86.3 percent said that that they had no knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding.
Exclusive breastfeeding is the best approach recommended where a baby is given only breast milk, the duration for which babies are exclusively breast fed varies among women although the recommended duration is six months. This has been explained as a method of reducing infant deaths and prevention of malnutrition.
In this study, a big number of respondents were between the age of 21-26 years who make 41.3 percent and very few of them aged between 39-44 years. The probable reason for this scenario is the poor educational background which renders them ill-equipped to take care of the children effectively most of them are standard seven leavers.
In this study the mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding for the first five month is found to be 26 percent, a small figure compared to a study done in 2005 in Iran which showed 50 percent practicing exclusive breast feeding. Also the study showed 67.3 percent were exclusively breastfeeding for 4-5 months which is different from the study done (2004) in Tanzania which was 13.5 percent, this is probably due to sample size.
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months in this study is 22 percent below the 76.5 percent of the study done in Ile-Ife Nigeria. This difference is probably due to different geographical location and different culture and customs. Also a small percentage of women do exclusive breastfed for 2-3 months.
In the case of EBF (exclusive breastfeeding) knowledge 55.9 percent of women with secondary education had knowledge while only 4.1 percent of those women who have never attended school have knowledge on EBF. This is similar to the study done in Moshi in 1999 which showed women with secondary education to be more knowledgeable by 21.7 percent compared to 7.8 percent of their uneducated fellows
This proves that those who with education are more aware and have adapted the knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding, in this category 95.9 percent of them were found to be aware of EBF..
Lastly, the study showed that 38 percent of respondents believe that breast milk is an essential food for babies for the first six months of a baby’s life, this is true because of poor RCH (rural community health) attendance among women hence they fail to get health education which is always provided at RCH clinics.
To achieve and reach the targeted number of women with knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding it is recommended that education on breastfeeding should be provided effectively at reproductive and child health clinic by elaborating on exact duration of exclusive breast feeding.
The importance of breastfeeding to the baby and to the mother is very important and mothe
rs should be convinced that breast milk is enough as the only food during the first six months of life.
