Practice of Breast milk Expression and Its Inuence on Exclusive Breastfeeding among Working Mothers in Kano; North-West, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Many studies have shown that working mothers face challenges in achieving exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). The practice of  breast milk expression (BME) is an important strategy to achieve EBF.

Aim: To assess the practice and influence of BME on EBF among  working mothers with infants up to six months of age attending the immunization clinic of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano.   

Methods: This was across-sectionall study among working breastfeeding mothers attending the immunization clinic of AKTH. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain data on knowledge and practice of BME. Data collected were  analysed using SPSS windows version 21. A χ² test was used to compare variables where appropriate.

Result: Three hundred and ten  breast feeding mothers participated in the survey. The mean age ±SD of respondents were (30.68 ± 5.6). Their median parity was 3. Only  103(33.2%) practiced BME. Reason given by half (54.8%) of respondents who practiced BME was to achieve six months of EBF which was  found to be statistically significant (p-value =0.001).

Conclusion: Although most working mothers have fair knowledge on expression and  storage of breast milk, only a minority put that into practice, and the main reason for practicing BME was to achieve six months of EBF.  Age of mother, ethnicity and reason for BME were found to be statistically significant (χ² = 52.7, P= 0.01), (χ² =7.99, P = 0.046), (χ² = 305.5,  P = 0.001).