Abstract:
Back ground: - Even though Breastfeeding for infants and young children provides the ideal food for healthy growth and development, use of infant formula feeding increased worldwide. In developing countries, 1.3 to 1.45 million childhood deaths are attributed to suboptimal breast-feeding practices. There is a limited study that focuses on infant formula feeding practice and associated factors in Ethiopia.
Objective: - To assess infant formula feeding practice and associated factors among mothers who visited health facilities for their infants aged less than 6 months of age in Bahir Dar city.
Methods: -Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 11 –May 10, 2020. Data were collected from 593 randomly selected mothers with infants under 6 months of age who came to immunization and under 5 OPD services. Interviewer administered structured ques-tionnaire was used to collect the required data. Data were coded and entered to Epi- data version 3.1 and exported to Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23 for data analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis were done to predict variables associated to formula feeding practice. Variables with p-value <0.05 in multivariable logistic regression was considered as statistically significant.
Result:-The prevalence of infant formula feeding was 25% (95%CI;21.7,28.0).Maternal age group of 25-34 years [AOR=2.388 (95%CI;1.295,4.406)],mothers occupation of private employ-ee [AOR=6.726 (95%CI;2.756,16.413)],government employee [AOR=4.726(95% CI;1.895,8.700 )] and merchants [AOR=2.798(95%CI;1.066,7.345)], having positive attitude to infant formula [AOR=2.10(CI;1.09,4.06)] delayed to breast milk initiation after delivery [AOR=3.73(CI;1.504,9.252)],mothers who had≤3ANC visits [AOR=2.294(CI;1.317,3.997)] and source of formula milk information from supermarket/pharmacy[AOR=6.57(95%CI;1.48,29.16)] and from fami-lies/friends [AOR=2.24(CI;10.24,4.03)] were independent predictors of infant formula feeding practice.
Conclusion:- Even though infants aged less than 6 months recommended to exclusively breast feed, one fourth (25% ) of mothers fed infant formula before the age of 6 months in the study area. Therefore, sustained community based infant feeding education is recommended for preg-nant and lactating mothers.
Keywords: Bahir Dar City, formula f