Infant feeding practices in the first two years of life of nursing mothers living with HIV attending general hospitals in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: World Health Organization recommends that all the nursing mothers irrespective of their health status should breast feed exclusively. Mothers living with HIV have a choice to balance between the nutritional and other benefits of breast feeding with the risks of transmitting HIV to their infants and choose between exclusive breast feeding and replacement feeding.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the infant feeding practices of nursing mothers living with HIV in Benue State.

Methods: The study was carried out in three (3) General Hospitals in Benue state. It was a cross sectional study of 780 nursing mothers living with HIV with babies less than 2 years of age attending HIV/AIDS treatment centers using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data obtained was analyzed using IBM SPSS for windows, version 21.0. Descriptive statistics was carried out and the results were presented in frequencies, means and percentages.

Results: Majority (52.8%) of the respondents were in the age brackets of 21-30, a good number (71.3%) were married, only 50.8% had secondary education. More than three quarter of the respondents (81.9%) practiced exclusive breast feeding, while none breast fed beyond 17 months. As many as (34% of the mothers)were using feeding bottles.

Conclusion: The study revealed that a very high percentage of the mothers living with HIV practiced exclusive breast feeding (EBF) but none of the nursing mothers studied continued breast feeding their babies beyond 17 months.

Keywords: Infant, feeding practice, mothers living with HIV, Benue state,-Nigeria