ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING ON MOTHERS AND INFANTS ATTENDING IMMUNIZATION CLINIC AT ESUTH, PARKLANE, ENUGU, ENUGU STATE SOUTH EAST NIGERIA

According to WHO, exclusive breast feeding is the situation in which the infant receives only breast milk from his/her mother or a wet nurse for the first 6 months of life and with no other solid or liquid with the exception of drops or syrups consisting of vitamins, mineral, supplements, or medicine. The rates of exclusive breast feeding for the past two decades have been increasing; it is still a long road to achieve 100% global target coverage recommended by UNICEF. This project aims to assess and identify the benefits of exclusive breast feeding on nursing mothers and infants attending immunization clinic at Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Parklane Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria, a facility based cross sectional design was used to study the selected population. The technique used for the sampling was the simple random sampling technique and the systematic sampling technique, types of probability sampling. The tool used was interviewer administered and semi – structured questionnaire. The age range of our respondents was 19 – 41. A large number of respondents were married, with the highest level of education being secondary. Majority of our respondents were Christians and most were self-employed. Majority of our respondents had a good knowledge of exclusive breast feeding. The study of infants as represented in the growth chart, of the two groups of children in study receiving exclusive breast feeding and no exclusive breast feeding. The non-exclusive breast feeding chart had a wider gap between the expected and observed weight of the children studied while in the exclusively breast feeding chart the gap is narrow up to the fourth month of life of the children. Majority of the nursing mothers initiated breast feeding within 30 minutes. A greater percentage experienced lactational amenorrhea and no pregnancy was recorded during the period of exclusive breast feeding. With regards to the economic effects of exclusive breast feeding, it was estimated that exclusive breast feeding was more cost effective than those who practiced artificial milk feeding. There was a good knowledge of exclusive breast feeding among nursing mothers. The infants that were exclusively breast feed had optimal growth. The nursing mothers experienced the positive effects of exclusive breast feeding. There should be increased awareness on the effects of exclusive breast feeding on mothers and infants and government should promote breast feeding policies.