Prelacteal feeding practice in South Ethiopia

What is it about?

Pre-lacteal feeding is one of the major harmful practices faced while feeding newborns. Although it affects child health, little is known about the extent of the problem and its contributing factors in the study area. We used a community-based cross-sectional study among 430 mothers having children less than 12 months of age to identify the prevalence of pre-lacteal feeding practices. The prevalence of pre-lacteal feeding practice was 12.6% with a 95% confidence interval of 9.5–15.7. Maternal education, lack of breastfeeding counseling, lack of knowledge about risks of pre-lacteal feeding, and poor knowledge of breastfeeding practices were some of the identified factors associated with pre-lacteal feeding practices. The prevalence in this study was found to be higher than the national prevalence. The recommended interventions to reduce the prevalence of pre-lacteal feeding practices are awareness creation activities on the risks of pre-lacteal feeding, promotion of institutional delivery, and improving breastfeeding counseling. Interventions to reduce pre-lacteal feeding should also target grandparents, and traditional birth attendants within the study area.

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Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Due to the introduction of pre-lacteal foods, 3000–4000 infants die every day in the developing world from diarrhea and acute respiratory infections. In particular, 45% of neonatal infectious deaths, 30% of diarrheal deaths, and 18% of acute respiratory deaths among under-five children were associated with pre-lacteal feeds. Different factors affect pre-lacteal feeding practice, mainly related to home delivery, failure to attend ANC, late breastfeeding initiation, and influence by friends. Birth order of index child, birth spacing less than 24 months, colostrum discarding, delivery by cesarean section, and maternal belief in the purported advantage of pre-lacteal feeding were also factors affecting pre-lacteal feeding. Pre-lacteal feeding was also highly affected by maternal educational status, giving birth to a male, and previous experience with pre-lacteal feeding. A wide range of harmful newborn feeding practices is documented in Ethiopia after the implementation of infant and young child feeding guidelines. Knowing the severity as well as the wide-spreading practices of inappropriate breastfeeding, the government of Ethiopia has devised different strategies including generating health extension programs and working in collaboration with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the areas of IYCF. WHO and UNICEF recommend that children should start breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and no other foods or liquids should be provided, including water before the starting of breastfeeding, but in Ethiopia, about 7.9% of children received pre-lacteal feeding. Consumption of animal products is high in pastoral areas where cows or goat milk is a major part of the diet for pastoralist children in addition to breastfeeding and mothers living in the area tend to give this to their infants before 6 months due to low educational level and awareness status. Although pre-lacteal feeding affects child health, little is known about the extent of the problem and its contributing factors in South Ethiopia particularly in the study area. Even studies conducted on this and related topics show inconsistencies among their findings. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of pre-lacteal feeding practices and associated factors among mothers of children aged less than 12 months in Jinka Town, Southern Ethiopia

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