S'assurer de l'application d'un système de
travail avec des possibilités des pauses à prendre par les femmes
allaitantes sur le temps de travail et des lieux appropriés pour
exprimer et conserver le lait maternel. SUMMARY
Introduction and objectives
According to WHO, 1.4 million deaths that occur every
year could be prevented if the practice of breast feeding could be done
correctly. For this reason, this Organization recommends exclusive
breast-feeding during the first six months of the life of an infant. However,
according to the EDS-MICS 2011, the rate of exclusive breast-feeding in
Cameroun is 20%. The aim of this work is to evaluate the rate of exclusive
breast feeding, describe the modalities related to the daily practice and
identify the factors likely to influence exclusive breastfeeding at the
Yaoundé Gyneco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital (YGOPH) which is a
reference centre for mother-child.
Material and methods
We undertook a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical
study involving mother-child couples having attended the services of
vaccination and external consultation of the YGOPH during the period from
October 2011 to February 2012. The children were between the ages of 6 to 12
months and were breastfed. The data was collected on a pre-established
questionnaire. The following information about the mothers was noted: the
socio-economic characteristics, the practices related to breast feeding, the
mode and the place of childbirth. The sex and the weight of the children were
also noted. The data collected was analyzed with SPSS version 17.0 software.
The threshold of probability P < 0.05 was retained to characterize
statistically significant results.
Results
We questioned 310 mother-child couples. The rate of exclusive
breast-feeding from birth was of 84.8% and this rate dropped to 23.5% by six
months of age. Medical advice (49.3%) and the health of their children (42.5%)
were the two main reasons put forward by the women who practiced exclusive
breast-feeding during the first six months of life; while the resumption of
study or work (38.4%) and the belief that «the newborn is not satisfied
enough» (34.2%) were the main reasons for the introduction of other foods
in their children's diet. The majority of the children (84.5%) had not received
any food before beginning their first suckle but for those who received
something, breast milk substitutes was the most given food for 70.5% of
mothers. The majority (87.1%) of the women breast fed their children on demand.
The breast pain constituted the main difficulty encountered by the breast
feeding mothers (60.5%). The maternal education and mother's profession or
activity was statistically associated with the practice of exclusive
breast-feeding (EBF) during the first six months of life.
Conclusions and recommendations
It comes out from our study that the rate of
exclusive breast-feeding during the first six months of life at the
Yaoundé Gyneco-Obstetrics and Pediatric Hospital is 23.5%. The majority
of the women breast fed their children on demand (87.1%) and only a minority of
babies received other foods before their first suck (14.2%). The
socio-professional category is the only factor which significantly influenced
the practice of EBF until the age of 6 months.
We thus recommend that:
· Media campaigns and educative talks during pre natal
consultations on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six
months of life for worker's mothers principally,
· Promote this mode of feeding in public and private
enterprises,
· Emphasize on the implementation of breastfeeding in
working mothers during periods allocated for that, and the provision of
suitable conditions to express and store milk
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