1Department of Community Medicine, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria
2Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, Abuja, Nigeria
3Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
American Journal of Public Health Research.
2015,
Vol. 3 No. 5A, 72-79
DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-3-5A-16
Copyright © 2015 Science and Education PublishingCite this paper: Usman Aishat, Fawole Olufunmilayo, Dairo David, Saheed Gidado. Factors Influencing Infant Feeding Choices of HIV Positive Mothers in Southwestern, Nigeria.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2015; 3(5A):72-79. doi: 10.12691/ajphr-3-5A-16.
Correspondence to: Usman Aishat, Department of Community Medicine, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. Email:
labukol@yahoo.comAbstract
Breastfeeding is a socio-culturally acceptable, universal way of feeding infant during the first year of life and a key determinant of child survival and development. Semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used in the cross-sectional survey to obtain data from 600 HIV positive mothers to assess practices regarding infant feeding choices and factors influencing these choice(s) by mothers enrolled in Prevention of Mother -to -Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV clinics in Oyo State, Southwestern, Nigeria. Majority of the mothers (86.0%) was married and aged 31.0 ± 5.7 years. Slightly above half (53.0%) had ≤ 2 children and more than two-third had disclosed their HIV status to their spouses. About two-third (61.0%) were traders with 75.0% earning monthly income ≤ ₦18,000.00k. Half of the mothers had ≥ 3 antenatal care visits and 85.0% had infant feeding counselling. Infant feeding choices among the mothers were Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF) (61.0%), Exclusive Replacement Feeding (ERF) (26.0%) and Mixed Feeding (MF) (13.0%). The choice of EBF, ERF and MF were influenced by fear of stigmatisation (55.0%), disclosure of HIV status to spouse (67.0%) and neighbours’ advice (66.0%) respectively. Predictors of EBF were; monthly income [AOR = 2.6, C.I. =1.45-4.59], infant feeding counselling [AOR = 2.7, C.I. = 1.62-6.94)] and fear of stigmatisation [AOR = 7. 2, C.I. = 2.11-23.60]. Predictors of ERF were; being a civil servant [AOR = 5.7, C.I. = 2.51-16.42], desire to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV [AOR = 2.5, C.I. =1.03-11.83] and disclosure of HIV status to spouses [AOR=5.0, C.I. =3.81-23.01]. Predictors of MF were; parity < 3 [AOR = 3.4, C.I. =1.72-6.96], receiving neighbours’ advice [AOR = 4.6, C.I. = 3.72-56.21] and infant illness [AOR = 6.8, C.I. = 4.0 -35.10]. Although a high proportion of mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding for fear of stigmatization, mixed feeding is still being practiced due to neighbours’ advice. Family members’ education on safer infant feeding practices and behavioural change programmes in the context of HIV is advocated.
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