Breastfeeding and weaning practices among mothers in Ghana: A population-based cross-sectional study

Background
Children need good nutrition to develop proper immune mechanisms and psychosocial maturity, but malnutrition can affect their ability to realize this. Apart from the national demographic and health survey, which is carried out every 5 years, there have not been enough documented studies on child breastfeeding and weaning practices of caregivers in the Volta Region. We, therefore, examined child breastfeeding and weaning practices of mothers in the Volta Region of Ghana.

Methods
A sub-national survey method was adopted and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 396 mothers and their children. Descriptive and inferential statistics comprising frequency, percentage, chi-square, and logistic regression were employed in analysing the data. We defined exclusive breastfeeding as given only breast milk to an infant from a mother or a wet nurse for six months of life except drops or syrups consisting of vitamins, minerals, supplements, or medicines on medical advice, and prolonged breastfeeding as breastfeeding up to 24 months of age.

Results
The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) was 43.7%. Mothers constituting 61.1% started breastfeeding within an hour of giving birth. In addition to breast milk, 5.1% gave fluids to their children on the first day of birth. About 66.4% started complementary feeding at 6 months, 22.0% breastfed for 24 months or beyond, while 40.4% fed their children on-demand. Child’s age (AOR: 0.23, 95% CI:0.12–0.43, p<0.0001), prolonged breastfeeding (AOR: 0.41, 95%CI: 0.12–0.87, p = 0.001), mother’s religion (AOR: 3.92, 95%CI: 1.23–12.61, p = 0.021), feeding practices counselled on (AOR: 1.72, 95%CI: 1.96–3.09, p = 0.023), mother ever heard about EBF (AOR: 0.43, 95%CI: 1.45–2.41, p = 0.039), child being fed from the bottle with a nipple (AOR: 1.53, 95%CI: 1.94–2.48, p = 0.003), and age at which complementary feeding was started (AOR: 17.43, 95%CI: 3.47–87.55, p = 0.008) were statistically associated with EBF.

Conclusion
Breastfeeding education has been ongoing for decades, yet there are still gaps in the breastfeeding practices of mothers. To accelerate progress towards attainment of the sustainable development goal 3 of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages by the year 2030, we recommend innovative policies that include extensive public education to improve upon the breastfeeding and weaning practices of mothers.