Patterns and Socio-demographic Determinants of Exclusive Breastfeeding in India

Determinants of exclusive breastfeeding

Abstract

Introduction: Breastfeeding is an important practice which becomes more important due to increased malnutrition and illnesses among children these days. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life is an important practice that has proven benefits in later life. Our study is about the factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding and is amongst one of the very few such studies using the latest available data. Objective: To study the pattern and socio-demographic determinants of exclusive breastfeeding in India. Methods: For this study, the National Family Health Survey 2018-19 (NFHS-5) data was used. In the current study, all the women who were breastfeeding at the time of data collection were included in this study. Data was cleaned, coded, and analyzed using SPSS 16. Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was checked, region-wise, maternal age-wise, SES wise etc. Results: All the factors under study showed significant associations with exclusive breastfeeding. Exclusive breastfeeding was more or less the same among all maternal age groups but slightly lower in women above 35 years of age. Exclusive breastfeeding was highest in the western region (88.5%) and in the women who had incomplete primary education (86.7%). Also, exclusive breastfeeding was highest in the poorest group and was more in women who underwent normal delivery in comparison to that of caesarian delivery. Counseling regarding breastfeeding by healthcare workers also showed significant results in improving exclusive breastfeeding practices. Conclusion: This study signified that exclusive breastfeeding is affected by many factors, such as maternal education, region, SES, type of delivery, place of delivery, and patient counseling on the same. Recommendation: out of the all the factors counseling by healthcare worker on exclusive breastfeeding is easily modifiable and should be strengthened to improve exclusive breastfeeding.