Description
ABSTRACT
Background: For most of human history breastfeeding has been the natural and normal means of feeding infants. Over the years there have been attempts at introducing substitutes for breast milk and formula milk despite its deficiencies has become poplar. Objective: To evaluate the practice of breastfeeding amongst antenatal clinic (ANC) attendees at a Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Port Harcourt. Methodology: The study was cross sectional involving 200 hundred ANC attendees at a PHC in Port Harcourt, from 1st November, 2006 to 30th April, 2007. Questionnaires were administered during the study period Information were retrieved and analyzed using SPSS 15.0 version. Results: There were a total of 200 respondents in this study. The mean age was 28-years±2 SD; 75.5% of the mothers accepted the fact that exclusive breastfeeding of the newborn baby was the best feeding option. However, only 9% opted to breastfeed for over one year, 40.2% of the mothers discontinued breastfeeding after their babies were weaned, while 24.7% stopped because they became pregnant. Over two-third (66.7%) of the babies had diarrhea after their mothers stopped breastfeeding. Ninety-nine percent of the mothers intended to breastfeed in future. Conclusion: Breastfeeding of the newborn was widely practiced by most of the respondents but the full benefits of breastfeeding were not achieved because of faulty practices by the mothers. There is need to educate ANC attendees by care givers, with the ultimate goal of achieving better breastfeeding practices.
Keywords: Practice, Breastfeeding, Antenatal clinic, Primary health care
