Tahiru Rafatu, Agbozo Faith, Garti Hmphrey, Abubakari Abdulai
Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences, University for Development Studies, P. O. Box 1883, Tamale, Ghana.
Yendi Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Ghana Health Service, Yendi, Ghana.
Int J Pediatr. 2020 Jan 22;2020:5605437. doi: 10.1155/2020/5605437. eCollection 2020.
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months after birth has been recommended by the WHO as the best infant feeding strategy. Data on EBF rates among twin infants in Ghana remain limited and for that matter hypothesized to be low.
The study sought to measure the prevalence of EBF and identify associated factors among twins in the Tamale metropolis.
A cross-sectional survey involving 185 mother-twin pairs was conducted in four health facilities in the Tamale metropolis providing Child welfare Clinic (CWC) services. Socio-demographics data on both mother and twin were taken. Biomedical (e.g. perceived onset of lactation, confidence of producing enough milk, parity, delivery place, delivery type, time of breastfeeding initiation) and bio cultural factors (e.g. family cooperation for current infant feeding, breastfeeding counselling) were also obtained. In-depth interviews were also conducted with a sub sample of mothers (30) who were purposively selected to generate qualitative data on breastfeeding and associated cultural factors in twins as this data was necessary to aid in the explanation of the quantitative results.
Only 17% of twin infants were exclusively breastfed for six months. Women who were not confident that they could produce enough breast milk were about 83% less likely to practice exclusive breast-feeding (EBF) compared to those who were confident that they could produce enough breast milk (AOR = 0.17; CI = 0.04, 0.73; -value = 0.017). Moreover, mothers who had no access to radio were about 87% less likely to practice EBF (AOR = 0.13; CI = 0.02, 0.79; -value = 0.017). Moreover, mothers who had no access to radio were about 87% less likely to practice EBF (AOR = 0.13; CI = 0.02, 0.79.
The study shows that, ownership of radio, confidence of producing enough breast milk and admission of the children into NICU were identified as the most important factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding of twins. Beyond Educating, encouraging and assuring twin mothers of their abilities to produce enough breast milk to satisfy their children, healthcare professionals should pay more attention on providing appropriate information on breastfeeding to mothers and caregivers.
世界卫生组织建议，出生后的前六个月进行纯母乳喂养是最佳的婴儿喂养策略。加纳双胞胎婴儿的纯母乳喂养率数据仍然有限，因此据推测该比率较低。
本研究旨在测量塔马利市双胞胎纯母乳喂养的患病率，并确定相关因素。
在塔马利市提供儿童福利诊所（CWC）服务的四家医疗机构中，对185对母婴双胞胎进行了横断面调查。收集了母亲和双胞胎的社会人口统计学数据。还获取了生物医学因素（例如，感知到的泌乳开始时间、对分泌足够乳汁的信心、产次、分娩地点、分娩类型、开始母乳喂养的时间）和生物文化因素（例如，家庭对当前婴儿喂养的合作、母乳喂养咨询）。还对30名有目的选择的母亲子样本进行了深入访谈，以生成关于双胞胎母乳喂养及相关文化因素的定性数据，因为这些数据有助于解释定量结果。
只有17%的双胞胎婴儿纯母乳喂养了六个月。与那些有信心分泌足够乳汁的女性相比，那些对自己能否分泌足够乳汁没有信心的女性进行纯母乳喂养（EBF）的可能性要低约83%（调整后比值比[AOR]=0.17；可信区间[CI]=0.04，0.73；P值=0.017）。此外，无法收听广播的母亲进行纯母乳喂养的可能性要低约87%（AOR=0.13；CI=0.02，0.79；P值=0.017）。此外，无法收听广播的母亲进行纯母乳喂养的可能性要低约87%（AOR=0.13；CI=0.02，0.79）。
该研究表明，收音机的拥有情况、分泌足够乳汁的信心以及孩子入住新生儿重症监护病房被确定为影响双胞胎纯母乳喂养的最重要因素。除了教育、鼓励并向双胞胎母亲保证她们有能力分泌足够乳汁来满足孩子需求外，医疗保健专业人员应更加关注向母亲和护理人员提供有关母乳喂养的适当信息。
