Breastfeeding knowledge and practices among mothers of children younger than 2 years from a rural area in the Limpopo province, South Africa

Background. Exclusive breastfeeding is rarely practised in most rural areas of developing countries. Poor breastfeeding practices may stem from negative attitudes or poor knowledge about the value of breastfeeding. Objective. To determine breastfeeding knowledge and practices among mothers of infants younger than 2 years in a rural area of the Limpopo province, South Africa (SA). Methods. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted among 360 women with children younger than 2 years from the Ha-Khakhu area in the Vhembe district, SA. Snowballing was used to select 360 participants. Results. The mean age of the respondents was 29.3 (8.1) years (range 18 - 45 years). The majority (75%) of the respondents agreed that infants should be breastfed up to the age of 6 months. Two-thirds of the respondents initiated breastfeeding within an hour of giving birth. During the time of data collection, 83% of the respondents were still breastfeeding, while 17% had stopped. The majority of the respondents (75.8%) agreed that complementary feeding should start at the age of 6 months. Conclusion. The respondents' breastfeeding practices did not correspond to their high level of knowledge about breastfeeding. It is recommended that health education initiatives be intensified to promote breastfeeding

Infant Feeding Practices of Mothers and Nutritional Status of Infants in Vhembe District in the Limpopo Province

Objective: To determine the breast-feeding and weaning practices of mothers and the nutritional status of infants in the Vhembe District of Limpopo Province.Design: A descriptive and exploratory study was done. A sample of 185 mothers with 185 infants 12 months and younger was selected from five primary healthcare clinics. A validated questionnaire; which consisted of questions relating to demographic data; breast-feeding and weaning practices; was used. The weight and length measurements of the infants were taken.Results: The majority (97) of the mothers were still breast-feeding at the time of the interviews. Only 7;6practised exclusive breastfeeding;however; while 43;2had introduced solid foods at three months and 15before two months. The weaning food given by most of the mothers was maize-meal soft porridge and had been introduced before four months of age. The Z-score classification was used and showed that stunting (18;9); underweight (7) and wasting (7) were present among the infants but that only wasting was found to be a disorder of public-health significance.The nutritional status of the infants was therefore not significantly influenced by the breast-feeding and weaning practices of the mothers or other demographic parameters.Conclusion: Breast-feeding was still practised by many of the mothers but exclusive breast-feeding was rare