Comparative study of exclusive breastfeeding practice among employed mothers and housewives in Tanzania

BACKGROUND: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is a global concern as it is associated with infant protection against gastrointestinal infections, reduces newborn mortality and prevents a child from becoming overweight or obese. Even though some studies have reported high EBF practices among housewives compared to employed mothers, the influences of practices among the two groups are little documented. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed at comparing the EBF among employed mothers and housewives in Tanzania. METHODOLOGY: The study was a facility-based comparative cross-sectional study, with a sample size of 246 mothers of children less than 6 months. Convenience sampling was used to select participants. Data were collected by using a validated questionnaire and analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Science, version 23, through descriptive statistics (frequency, proportion and mean) and inferential statistics (Chi-square test (χ(2)) and binary logistic regression). RESULTS: The findings show that 106 (80.9%) of housewives had good EBF compared to 78 (67.8%) employed mothers, which was a significant difference (χ(2) = 5.57; P = 0.019). One hundred and seven (81.7%) housewives had adequate knowledge of EBF compared to 84 (73%) employed mothers, but the knowledge between them was not significantly different (χ(2) = 2.63; P = 0.071). For employed mothers, only age was significantly associated with EBF (χ(2) = 39.49; P = 0.006), while for housewives, none of the sociodemographic characteristics was significantly associated with EBF. CONCLUSION: EBF practice was higher among housewives as compared to employed mothers. Age was significantly associated with good practice of EBF among employed mothers. The effort should be strengthened to help employed mothers aged below 28 years to practice EBF. Different programs and approaches that are developed and implemented should target this age group to increase the rate of EBF.