Timely Initiation of Breastfeeding and Associated Factors among Mothers of Infant Aged 0- 6 Months Attending Western Regional Hospital, Kaski, Nepal

Introduction: Timely initiation of breastfeeding is the provision of feeding the baby with the breast milk of mother within one hour of birth. It is the part of optimal breastfeeding practices, which continued up to 2 years of age or beyond. With the objective of estimating the prevalence and examining the factors associated with initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth among mothers of infant aged 0-6 months.

Methods: A cross- sectional hospital based study was conducted in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) clinics of Western Regional Hospital among mothers with infant younger than or equal to 6 months age. Simple random sampling design was used to select the participants included in this study. Face to face interview was conducted using interviewer-administered questionnaire for data collection. Data collected was entered and analyzed in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23). Associations were tested using Pearson's Chi-Square test and multivariate logistic regression taking 95% confidence interval.

Results: The prevalence of timely initiation of breastfeeding is 46.3% in this study. The mean age of the respondents was 26.6 years. Majority of mother’s claimed to have ANC visit (96.9%). More than half (57.2%) had no breastfeeding counseling during their ANC visit. Mother who have counseling during the time of ANC visit were more like to initiate the early breastfeeding (AOR=4.17, 95% CI: 1.71, 10.19). Majority (97.5%) of the mother delivered their child at health institution. Among them, 40.5% have Cesarean Section delivery. Mode of delivery was seen to be associated with the early initiation of breastfeeding. Mother having normal delivery had more possibility of early initiation of breastfeeding then cesarean section delivery (AOR=17.90, 95% CI: 6.89, 46.4). Prevalence of timely initiation of breastfeeding in this study is below national average.

Conclusion: Counseling during every health institution visit plays a positive role for increasing in early initiation of breastfeeding. Behavior change communication, minimizing indications of caesarean delivery, training of health professionals, community based breastfeeding education are recommended to be improved.