Breastfeeding practices in nursing mothers during COVID-19 pandemic: Dual center study in Karachi, Pakistan

  • Shireen Qassim Bham Liaquat college of medicine & dentistry
  • Khalid Mahmood Ahmad Khan Fazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College
  • Sagheera Anjum Munaver Fazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College
  • Umer Hayat Ahmed Sharif Dow University of Health Sciences
Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic, Breast Feeding Practices, Child health, Nursing mothers

Abstract

Objective: To identify the breastfeeding practices in nursing mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Pediatrics and Gynecology & Obstetrics departments at two of the tertiary care hospitals in Pakistan from September 2020 to February 2021. Recently delivered mothers and mothers of children till two years of age on breastfeeding/formula feed were consecutively enrolled.

Results: Of 484 participants, breastfeeding was practiced by 180 (37.2%) participants, formula-fed by 85 (17.6%), and mix feed by 219 (45.2%) participants. Out of 185 mothers who had to breastfeed previous babies, 80.2% of mothers still opted to breastfeed their newborns despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Breastfeeding practices exhibited higher incidence in illiterate mothers (aOR 0.229 95% CI 0.05-0.95, p- 0.042), housewives (aOR 0.35 95% CI 0.13-0.95 p-0.040) and shorter length of stay (aOR 0.290 95% CI 0.15-0.57, p- 0.001) while formula /mixed feeding was found higher in mothers with exposure to formula feeding in previous babies (aOR 17.842, 95% CI 8.33-38.19, p- 0.001) and mothers with pain after delivery (aOR 4.526, 95% CI 2.11-9.71, p-<0.001).

Conclusion: Mothers who had to breastfeed their babies in a previous pregnancy, who were less educated, and housewives with a shorter stay in hospital have shown a stronger association with breastfeeding whereas mothers who had previous exposure to formula milk and pain after delivery have shown association to formula feed or mixed feed.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.2.6707

How to cite this: Bham SQ, Khan KMA, Munaver SA, Sharif UHA. Breastfeeding practices in nursing mothers during COVID-19 pandemic: Dual center study in Karachi, Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(2):467-473. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.2.6707

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published
2023-02-15
How to Cite
Bham, S. Q., Khan, K. M. A., Munaver, S. A., & Sharif, U. H. A. (2023). Breastfeeding practices in nursing mothers during COVID-19 pandemic: Dual center study in Karachi, Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 39(2). https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.2.6707
Section
Original Articles