Breastfeeding knowledge and practices among adolescent mothers attending infant and young child clinic at Kawempe Hospital

Abstract

Background; Breastfeeding priotizing Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months that is strongly advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) as a vital practice for infant health and survival. WHO and UNICEF recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed for the six months(Lailatussu’da et al., 2018), followed by continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods for up to two years or beyond, as this provides infants with essential nutrients and antibodies while reducing the risk of common childhood illnesses such as diarrhea and pneumonia(Lailatussu’da et al., 2018). Research objectives 1. To assess the breastfeeding knowledge among adolescent mothers attending infant and young child clinic at Kawempe National Referral Hospital. 2. To assess the breastfeeding practices among adolescent mothers attending infant and young child clinic at Kawempe National Referral Hospital. Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional design to assess breastfeeding practices and knowledge among adolescent mothers in Infant and Young Child Clinic at Kawempe National Referral Hospital. This design was chosen for its effectiveness in providing a snapshot of the current practices and support systems in place at a specific point in time. The target population for this study consisted of adolescent mothers aged 10-19 years who have recently given birth and are currently breastfeeding. The study focused on those attending infant and young child clinic at Kawempe National Referral Hospital. Results: The analysis employed descriptive statistics to summarize socio-demographic characteristics, breastfeeding knowledge, and practices. The results offer a detailed account of the significant and non- significant findings contributing to a comprehensive awareness and distribution of breastfeeding knowledge and practices among adolescent mothers in the Infant and Young Child Clinic at Kawempe National Referral Hospital.In this study conducted, more than 50%of the mothers had competencies with knowledge that child is breastfed within the first one hour after birth, majority of the mothers(63.4%) knew the merits of breastfeeding to the baby and below 50% of the mothers knew the advantages of breastfeeding to the mother, more than 50% of the mothers never knew the frequency of the breastfeeding a child in a day. 68.7% of the mothers were excusively breastfeeding .Majority of the participants with approximately 0.55 proportion had not introduced complementary feeds. In this study, 77% of the participants-initiated breastfeeding within the first one hour after birth and current breastfeeding rates were at 82.5% confidence level. Despite the fact that a higher proportion of the participants with better breast-feeding practices, a small proportion of approximately 24.7% continued breastfeeding beyond 12 months, and 30% of infants and 30% of the participants that had children less than six months were not exclusively breastfed.