MATERNAL KNOWLEDGE AND CHALLENGES IN EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING AND COMPLEMENTARY FEEDING PRACTICES IN CHILDREN SPECIALIST HOSPITAL, ILORIN
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Date
2024-02-15
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Publisher
LAUTECH Journal of Nursing (LJN)
Abstract
Breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices
play a crucial role in child growth and development,
constituting a complex adaptive process for mothers
during child feeding. This cross-sectional descriptive
research aimed to assess maternal knowledge and
c h a l l e n g e s i n e x c l u s i v e b re a s t f e e d i n g a n d
complementary feeding practices. A simple random
sampling technique was employed to select 150 mothers,
using a researcher-designed questionnaire with ve
sections (A-E) addressing study objectives. The
instrument underwent face and content validity, with a
reliability test yielding α = 0.71 through the Crobach
Alpha coefcient. Sociodemographically, the majority of
respondents fell within the 26 – 30 years age group
(52.2%), possessed tertiary education (54%), and were
married (96%). The ndings indicated that most
respondents were self-employed (77.9%), Moslems
(78.8%), and of Yoruba ethnicity (86.7%). Additionally,
a signicant proportion had a monthly income exceeding
N10,000 (41.6%), with fathers contributing signicantly
(66.4%), and had 2-4 children (55%). Regarding
knowledge, the study concluded that mothers'
understanding of exclusive breastfeeding and
complementary feeding was above average (63.3%),
while their practice was rated as average (56%).
Challenges in exclusive breastfeeding included stress
(79.6%), time consumption (69.9%), sore or painful
nipples (75.2%), poor grasp (88.5%), and a lack of
support from partners or family members (98.2%).
Complementary feeding challenges involved a lack of
money to buy food (98.2%), non-availability of food
items (96.5%), difculties in food preparation (85.0%),
and feeding problems with the child (88.5%). Two
hypotheses were tested, revealing no signicant
relationship between mothers' parity and the duration of
exclusive breastfeeding (p-value = 0.724 > 0.05).
However, there was a signicant relationship between
mothers' occupation and the lack of money to buy food
(p-value = 0.015 < 0.05). Recommendations included
instituting health education teaching protocols by
nurses to enhance mothers' knowledge of exclusive
breastfeeding importance and educating them on
various food compositions essential for complementary
food.
Description
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Keywords
M a t e r n a l, K n o w l e d g e, Challenges, Exclusive Breastfeeding, Practices
Citation
file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/Published%20Articles/MATERNAL%20KNOWLEDGE%20AND%20CHALLENGES%20IN%20EXCLUSIVE%20BREASTFEEDING%20AND%20COMPLEMENTARY%20FEEDING%20PRACTICES%20IN%20CHILDREN%20SPECIALIST%20HOSPITAL,%20ILORIN.pdf