Project Materials

INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION SOURCES ON KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING AMONG NURSING MOTHERS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Background of the Study 

In many African homes, particularly in Nigeria, new babies are not as committed to receiving only breast milk from their moms. According to a news article, there are a number of reasons why moms do not exclusively breastfeed, including twin pregnancies, myths about sagging breasts, fear of HIV infection, and worry of losing their sexual appeal. (Sina, 2016; Business Hallmark Newspaper, 2015).

Other factors that could prevent mothers from exclusively breastfeeding include the likelihood that nursing moms did not continue to do so for six months and the impact of family members, such as elderly grandmothers, on the mother’s exclusive breastfeeding behaviour.

Agunbaide & Ogunleye, 2012; Moisse, 2011; Umar & Oche, 2013) This is because they typically insist on traditional practices, such as discarding colostrums, giving infants water, animal milk, pap, infant formula, honey, herbal preparations, and washings from quoranic inscriptions thought to be medicinal.

If these techniques are not adequately handled, they may cause an infant to become malnourished and possibly die.

Inappropriate breastfeeding practices are a major contributor to the high mortality rate among children under five, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) (2003).

Similarly, at the World nursing Week celebration in Abuja, Veneman (2008) contributed by defining nursing as a critical instrument for enhancing child survival.

She went on to say that in underdeveloped nations, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life can save up to 13% of fatalities in children under five. This suggests that an infant’s health is mostly determined by exclusive nursing.

According to the 2008 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey, which assessed the country’s health, Nigeria has the most stunted children on the continent and ranks third globally, with over 10 million stunted children. According to Alexandra (2016), stunting is the primary sign of malnutrition.

Niger State has a high prevalence of stunting. He added that among children under five, Niger State is responsible for 34% of stunting cases, 11% of underweight cases, and 18% of wasting cases.

This indicates that in Niger State, a significant portion of children under five exhibit signs of malnutrition. This may be because they were not exclusively nursed by their moms. Malnutrition develops when a baby is not breastfed since breast milk provides all the nutrients required.

According to a 2008 report by the Summary of Child Survival Partnership, Nigeria is one of the six nations that cause half of all child fatalities globally, with one million children under five dying annually.

Additionally, according to a 2011 Federal Ministry of Health article titled “Saving Newborn Lives in Nigeria,” malnutrition is a contributing factor in more than one-third (35%) of those fatalities.

This suggests that babies who are malnourished as a result of inappropriate nursing have a higher chance of dying. This may be the cause of Niger State’s 123 per 1000 live births under-five mortality rate (Alexandra, 2016).

Malnutrition contributes to child mortality, which is consistent with Isaiah’s (2015) assertion that more than half of the mortality rate for women and children under five in northern Nigeria is caused by malnutrition.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of a child’s life can avoid 13% of the 10 million child fatalities that occur in the 42 countries that account for 90% of all child deaths worldwide (UNICEF, 2005).

The government must make a concerted effort to ensure that moms exclusively breastfeed their infants in order to lower child mortality.