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Infant feeding practices and determinants of poor breastfeeding behavior in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a descriptive study

BACKGROUND: Although breastfeeding is almost universally accepted in the Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo, by the age of 2 to 3 months 65% of children are receiving something other than human milk. We sought to describe the infant feeding practices and determinants of suboptimal breastfeeding behav...

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Autores principales: Yotebieng, Marcel, Chalachala, Jean Lambert, Labbok, Miriam, Behets, Frieda
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3850507/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24083882
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1746-4358-8-11
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author Yotebieng, Marcel
Chalachala, Jean Lambert
Labbok, Miriam
Behets, Frieda
author_facet Yotebieng, Marcel
Chalachala, Jean Lambert
Labbok, Miriam
Behets, Frieda
author_sort Yotebieng, Marcel
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Although breastfeeding is almost universally accepted in the Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo, by the age of 2 to 3 months 65% of children are receiving something other than human milk. We sought to describe the infant feeding practices and determinants of suboptimal breastfeeding behaviors in DR Congo. METHODS: Survey questionnaire administered to mothers of infants aged ≤ 6 months and healthcare providers who were recruited consecutively at six selected primary health care facilities in Kinshasa, the capital. RESULTS: All 66 mothers interviewed were breastfeeding. Before initiating breastfeeding, 23 gave their infants something other than their milk, including: sugar water (16) or water (2). During the twenty-four hours prior to interview, 26 (39%) infants were exclusively breastfed (EBF), whereas 18 (27%), 12 (18%), and 10 (15%) received water, tea, formula, or porridge, respectively, in addition to human milk. The main reasons for water supplementation included “heat” and cultural beliefs that water is needed for proper digestion of human milk. The main reason for formula supplementation was the impression that the baby was not getting enough milk; and for porridge supplementation, the belief that the child was old enough to start complementary food. Virtually all mothers reported that breastfeeding was discussed during antenatal clinic visit and half reported receiving help regarding breastfeeding from a health provider either after birth or during well-child clinic visit. Despite a median of at least 14 years of experience in these facilities, healthcare workers surveyed had little to no formal training on how to support breastfeeding and inadequate breastfeeding-related knowledge and skills. The facilities lacked any written policy about breastfeeding. CONCLUSION: Addressing cultural beliefs, training healthcare providers adequately on breastfeeding support skills, and providing structured breastfeeding support after maternity discharge is needed to promote EBF in the DR Congo.
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spelling pubmed-38505072013-12-05 Infant feeding practices and determinants of poor breastfeeding behavior in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a descriptive study Yotebieng, Marcel Chalachala, Jean Lambert Labbok, Miriam Behets, Frieda Int Breastfeed J Research BACKGROUND: Although breastfeeding is almost universally accepted in the Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo, by the age of 2 to 3 months 65% of children are receiving something other than human milk. We sought to describe the infant feeding practices and determinants of suboptimal breastfeeding behaviors in DR Congo. METHODS: Survey questionnaire administered to mothers of infants aged ≤ 6 months and healthcare providers who were recruited consecutively at six selected primary health care facilities in Kinshasa, the capital. RESULTS: All 66 mothers interviewed were breastfeeding. Before initiating breastfeeding, 23 gave their infants something other than their milk, including: sugar water (16) or water (2). During the twenty-four hours prior to interview, 26 (39%) infants were exclusively breastfed (EBF), whereas 18 (27%), 12 (18%), and 10 (15%) received water, tea, formula, or porridge, respectively, in addition to human milk. The main reasons for water supplementation included “heat” and cultural beliefs that water is needed for proper digestion of human milk. The main reason for formula supplementation was the impression that the baby was not getting enough milk; and for porridge supplementation, the belief that the child was old enough to start complementary food. Virtually all mothers reported that breastfeeding was discussed during antenatal clinic visit and half reported receiving help regarding breastfeeding from a health provider either after birth or during well-child clinic visit. Despite a median of at least 14 years of experience in these facilities, healthcare workers surveyed had little to no formal training on how to support breastfeeding and inadequate breastfeeding-related knowledge and skills. The facilities lacked any written policy about breastfeeding. CONCLUSION: Addressing cultural beliefs, training healthcare providers adequately on breastfeeding support skills, and providing structured breastfeeding support after maternity discharge is needed to promote EBF in the DR Congo. BioMed Central 2013-10-01 /pmc/articles/PMC3850507/ /pubmed/24083882 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1746-4358-8-11 Text en Copyright © 2013 Yotebieng et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Yotebieng, Marcel
Chalachala, Jean Lambert
Labbok, Miriam
Behets, Frieda
Infant feeding practices and determinants of poor breastfeeding behavior in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a descriptive study
title Infant feeding practices and determinants of poor breastfeeding behavior in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a descriptive study
title_full Infant feeding practices and determinants of poor breastfeeding behavior in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a descriptive study
title_fullStr Infant feeding practices and determinants of poor breastfeeding behavior in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a descriptive study
title_full_unstemmed Infant feeding practices and determinants of poor breastfeeding behavior in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a descriptive study
title_short Infant feeding practices and determinants of poor breastfeeding behavior in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a descriptive study
title_sort infant feeding practices and determinants of poor breastfeeding behavior in kinshasa, democratic republic of congo: a descriptive study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3850507/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24083882
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1746-4358-8-11
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