ABSTRACT

The purpose ofthis study was to determine the breastfeeding practices and level of awareness on the consumption of galactagogues among lactating mothers in Ikwuano LGA ofAbia state. A total of350 lactating mothers was used for the study. A structured and validated questionnaire was used to collect information. A descriptive statistics was used to determine frequency and percentage and correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between breastfeeding practices and consumption of galactagogues. The result of the socio demographic characteristics revealed that (43.7%) of the mothers were between the ages of 15- 25 and 61.8% ofthe mothers had secondary education were more than half(58.9%) of the mothers earned between 30-40000 naira monthly. Based on the inclusion criteria, all the mothers were breastfeeding, less than half (44.5%) of the mothers initiated breastfeeding within the first hour of birth, Majority (73.0%) of the mothers gave their baby(s) colostrums, 40.9% breastfeed their children on demand, 47.4% practiced exclusive breastfeeding and 46.0% of the mothers consumed galactagogues daily. A majority (70.1%) of the mothers reported that their breast milk production was sufficient for their babies and (72.4%) ofthe mothers reported that consuming herbal tea drinks could improve breast milk production and got this information from family members. Most (68.7%) of the mothers consumed foods and drinks such as tea, pap, beans, palm wine, yam pepper soup, uda water, milk and yoghurt, to improve breast milk production. In this study, 38.5% ofthe mothers started consuming the foods, drinks, and herbs immediately after birth the continued consuming them up to several months. A relationship was observed between the breastfeeding practice and the consumption of galactagogues.