Breastfeeding Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Breastfeeding, including details on breast feeding benefits, problems, alcohol, diet.

Towards a better understanding of exclusive breastfeeding in the era of HIV/AIDS: a study of prevalence and factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding from birth, in Rakai,Uganda.

Ssenyonga R, Muwonge R, Nankya I

Rakai District Administration, Uganda. richard-sk@excite.com

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is being promoted by WHO/UNICEF as the recommended mode of feeding for all infants from birth to around 6 months of age. It is also recommended for the initial few months, for infants born to HIV-positive mothers in the developing world where conditions may not be ideal for replacement feeding. A cross-sectional study was done to find the prevalence and factors associated with EBF from delivery, amongst mothers of infants 0-6 months of age in a rural Ugandan community with a high HIV/AIDS burden. A prevalence of EBF of 35.1 per cent was found. There was a very high use of prelacteal feeds. Factors positively associated with EBF from birth, after logistic regression, were: delivery from a health unit (OR 2.07; 95 per cent confidence interval, 1.2-3.6); and mother having a normal vaginal delivery (OR 10.54; 95 per cent CI, 3.0-36.6). Factors showing negative association were: male gender of child (OR 0.44; 95 per cent CI, 0.3-0.7); and age of child over 3 months (OR 0.48; 95 per cent CI, 0.3-0.7). Mothers knowledge of her HIV serostatus was not associated with EBF (p = 0.78). Breastfeeding is almost universal in this area but it is rarely exclusive from birth.

Published 11 November 2004 in J Trop Pediatr, 50(6): 348-53.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Breastfeeding Research Today. All Rights Reserved.