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Effectiveness Of Exclusive Breastfeeding In The Development Of Under 5 Children
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1.3 Purpose of the Study
The
main purpose of this research project was to examine theeffectiveness
of exclusive breastfeeding in the development of under-five children in
Benue State, Nigeria. Thespecific purposes of the study are:
To assess whether mother’s age, level of education and occupation has influence on the practice of exclusive breastfeeding.
To assess how effective exclusive breastfeeding is for children under-five.
To
assess whether mothers have knowledge of the benefits and role that
exclusive breastfeeding plays in child development (under-fives).
To determine if family views regarding breastfeeding influence mother’s decision to exclusively breastfeed.
1.4 Research Questions
This study sought to provide answers to the following specific research questions:
Does mother’s age, level of education and occupation influence the practice of exclusive breastfeeding?
How effective is exclusive breastfeeding for children under-five?
Do mothers have knowledge of the benefits and role that exclusive breastfeeding plays in child development (under-fives)?
Do family views regarding breastfeeding influence mother’s decision to exclusively breastfeed?
1.5 Significance of Study
The
findings of this study would give an insight into areas where health
education campaigns are required to influence and promote the adoption
of exclusive breastfeeding. Specifically:
It would also make progress
towards obtaining demographic data on exclusive breastfeeding among
nursing mothers attending antenatal clinics in Benue State. This, in
addition, will benefit nutritionists, health planners in Benue State to
formulatepolicies and strategies that are geared towards the promotion
of exclusive breastfeeding on specific group of women and locations in
which it is poorly practiced.
The findings of the study would benefit
health workers to develop special intervention measures on specific age
ranges of mothers who poorly practice exclusive breastfeeding.
The
findings of this study would help health educators, nurses,
nutritionists and curriculum planners to develop informed programmes for
nursing mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding. This in addition,
would update the curriculum to educate students in higher institutions
of learning in preparing for future parenthood to adopt an effective
method of breastfeeding the baby.
1.6 Scope of Study
This
research project is focused onexamining the effectiveness of exclusive
breastfeeding in the development of under-five children in Benue State.
1.7 Operational Definition of terms
Exclusive
Breastfeeding:Exclusive breastfeeding means that the infant receives
only breast milk. No other liquids or solids are given – not even water –
with the exception of oral rehydration solution or drops/syrups of
vitamins, minerals or medicines.
Under-fives:children who are less than five years old, especially those who are not in full-time education.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
The
researcherexperienced the following limitations. First, the
relationship between types of breastfeeding and the infant mortality and
morbidity were probably underestimated by some mothers as they did not
attend post-natal care for further assessment and possible advice by the
health care providers. Such nursing mothers were not included in the
sample of the study. The study considered only nursing mothers that
attended postnatal clinics.
The study did not take into account the
differences between the infants who were raised by their biological
mothers and those raised by significant others and this could involve
some bias in the decision to exclusively or non-exclusively breastfeed
the infant. Based on this, the researcher convinced the nursing mothers
to provide accurate information on the method they feed their babies, as
this was not to “witch hunt†them but was merely for academic purpose.
Time and finances were limiting constraints to the work, notwithstanding
the researcher was able to successfully complete the work.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of exclusive breastfeeding in the development of children under-five in Benue State, Nigeria. To achieve this purpose, 10 hospitals were randomly selected using multi-stage sampling technique (simple random, stratified, and purposive sampling techniques). The data was collected using close-ended questionnaire. 500 questionnaires were distributed to nursing mothers who visited antenatal clinics in the randomly selected hospitals, from whi ... Continue reading---
