Socio-cultural factors influencing infant feeding practices of mothers attending welfare clinic in Cape Coast

Type Report
Title Socio-cultural factors influencing infant feeding practices of mothers attending welfare clinic in Cape Coast
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2010
URL http://www.ifra-nigeria.org/IMG/pdf/Sika.pdf
Abstract
Infant feeding behaviour has undergone a number of changes and this has generated a lot of debates all over the world. Infants worldwide are fed breastmilk exclusively, complementary food exclusively, or a combination of both. The study sought to investigate socio-cultural factors that influence the infant feeding practices of mothers attending welfare clinic in Cape Coast. A cross-sectional survey design was employed to examine socio-cultural factors influencing infant feeding practices of a randomly selected sample of mothers in Cape Coast Metropolis. A survey questionnaire was completed through semistructured interviews with mothers with a baby not older than six months. Among the respondents, the majority were Akan, married, over 27 years of age, and held at least junior high school certificate. Respondents who reported having primary education were significantly more likely to exclusively breastfeed than were respondents who reported having higher levels of schooling. Mother’s marital status, mother’s employment status, friends’ way of feeding their babies, social support and baby’s age were also influential in infant feeding practices. The finding of the study indicates that infant feeding practices in Metropolis are still far from ideal can be bettered if the problem is tackled from the sociological point of view. It is therefore suggested that Health workers carrying out infant feeding education need to be aware of the infant feeding practices applicable to their target group as well as the socio-cultural beliefs held by that target group

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