Breastfeeding practices in the neonatal period at Naivasha District Hospital-Kenya

Abstract

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding is among the low-cost, high-impact interventions with proven effectiveness in reducing neonatal mortality.  

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to determine the breastfeeding practices during the neonatal period (use of pre-lacteal feeds,  adherence to initiation of breastfeeding within an hour of delivery, exclusive breastfeeding in the neonatal period), and the secondary objective was to  assess the knowledge of mothers of exclusive breastfeeding.

Design: A longitudinal descriptive study was conducted to follow-up mothers who delivered  at the Naivasha district hospital during a period of 28 days during the period August 2012 to October 2012.

Setting: The Recruitment of subjects was  done in the post-natal ward at the Naivasha District hospital and then the mothers were followed up by phone call interviews at home.

Subjects: The  study population was mother/newborn pairs who were stable after 24 hours of delivery. The mothers had delivered normally at term and had signed informed consent.

Results: Two hundred and seven mother-neonate pairs completed the study. Timely initiation of breastfeeding was practiced by 147  (71%) participants, while pre-lacteal feeds were given to 63(30.4%) babies. The rate of exclusive breastfeeding was 89.9% (186/207) at 2 weeks, declining  by 4.4 % to 85.5% (177/207) at week 4. One hundred and forty-five (70%) mothers had adequate knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding.

Conclusion:  Timely initiation of breastfeeding, maternal knowledge of EBF, and exclusive breastfeeding rates during the neonatal period were above average.   However, the use of prelacteal feeds was common.