Breastfeeding Practice And Level Of Awareness On The Consumption Of Galactogogue Among Lactating Mother In Umuahia South, Abia State:- Egwu, Deborah U

ABSTRACT

Breastfeeding is considered the optimal source of nutrition for infants from birth to one year supported by the world health organization (WHO) (2017). This study determined the breastfeeding practices and level of awareness on the consumption of galactogogues among lactating mothers in Umuahia south L.G.A of Abia state.350 valid structured questionnaire was designed 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 galactogogue. The result showed that (35.1%) of mothers in this study were between the ages of 36-40, Less than half (45.4%) had secondary education and 30.6% earned between 41-50,000 naira monthly. 43.4% of the mothers practiced early initiation, Majority (89.1%) of the mothers gave their baby colostrums, Most of the mothers (69.7%) breastfeed their children on demand and 40.6% practiced exclusive breastfeeding A majority (83.1%) of the mothers reported that their breast milk production was sufficient for their babies and (89.4%) of the mothers reported that consuming herbs, food or drinks could improve breast milk production and got their information from family members. The most consumed galactogogues reported in this study was palmwine  followed by hot milk and chocolate beverage, others includes pap (maize), coconut water, yam pepper soup with uda, groundnut, tigernut, milk, yoghurt and uda . The consumption usually starts immediately after birth and consumption lasts up to from days to several months. There is a relationship breastfeeding practice and consumption of galactogogues.