Objective: To determine the early breastfeeding initiation prevalence and factors associated with it in a rural seting.
Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at Eight areas of Thatta registed in MNHR from May 2019 to July 2019, and comprised data obtained from a larger survey related to exclusive breastfeeding among women in Thatta, Pakistan, in 2019. The survey had been conducted in areas registered with the Maternal and Neonatal Health Registry, which is a population-based study for developing countries to assess pregnancy-related outcomes. Data was analysed using Stata 16.
Results: There were 397 women with a mean age of 27.71±4.92 years. Of them, 305(76.8%) had not received any formal education, 45(11.3%) women had attended primary school, 278(70.1%) were unemployed, and 313(78.8%) had a monthly household income <7,500 rupees. Breastfeeding within the first hour of birth was initiated by 95(20.4%) mothers. Factors associated with early initiation were adequate knowledge, place of delivery, gestational age of the baby and the age of the mother (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Providing counseling and health education to mothers before, during and after the pregnancy are important for motivating them to initiate breastfeeding early and continue exclusive breastfeeding for the recommended period of a minimum of 6 months.
Keywords: Early initiation of breastfeeding, Factors, Pakistan..