Assessment of infant feeding patterns among nursing mothers in Aguata and Anaocha Local Government Areas in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Infant feeding is the cornerstone in infant and childhood survival strategy. This study was carried out to determine infant feeding patterns in Aguata (urban) and Anaocha (rural) Local Government Areas (LGAs). This was a comparative cross sectional study of nursing mothers attending a child welfare clinic in Aguata and Anaocha LGAs. A total of 241 mother-infant dyads were interviewed (120 in Aguata and 121 in Anaocha) and the nutritional status of the infants was assessed. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 with a significance level set at p<0.05. The major source of information on infant feeding was from health workers in both LGAs (72.5% in Aguata and 90.1% in Anaocha). The majority of the mothers were still breastfeeding at the time of study (93.3% in Aguata and 95.4% in Anaocha). Majority of the mothers in both LGAs practised breast milk only when the child was less than 6 months (53.3% in Aguata and 79.3% in Anaocha). Using the WHO Z-score classification, majority of the infants in both LGAs had normal nutritional status (71.1% in Aguata and 76% in Anaocha had normal weight for age, 66.7% in Aguata and 51.2% in Anaocha had normal length for age, 62.5% in Aguata and 44.6% in Anaocha had normal weight for length).