Knowledge and compliance of lactating mothers on exclusive breastfeeding in village of Vhembe District, South Africa

Abstract

World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life for optimal growth, development and health. Breastfeeding initiation rates are reportedly high in South Africa, however, a dramatic drop in exclusive breastfeeding rates was reported in infants aged 4 to 6 months, where only 1.5% infants were exclusively breastfed. The objective of this paper was to determine the six months exclusive breastfeeding compliance in Vhembe district, South Africa.

The paper was conducted in Maungani village, Vhembe district, South Africa. A quantitative descriptive study was conducted among 160 breastfeeding mothers who were recruited using snowballing sampling method. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Data were captured and analysed using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 in terms of frequencies, average and percentages. But very few participants comply with the six months exclusively breastfeeding.

Conclusively not all mothers interviewed indicated that they initiated breastfeeding, the compliance in exclusive breastfeeding was reported to be very low.

Keywords: Compliance, knowledge, exclusive breastfeeding, lactating mothers and children