Assessment of Bottle-Feeding Practices in Kassala, Eastern Sudan: A Community-Based Study

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization encourages exclusive breastfeeding up to six months and avoidance of bottle-feeding. There are few published research articles on the practice of bottle-feeding and associated factors in Sudan. AIM: The study aimed to assess the usage and factors associated with bottle-feeding practices during the first six months of life among mothers with children aged between 6 and 24 months in Kassala, Eastern Sudan. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July to September 2017. A structured questionnaire was used to collect relevant data from interviewed mothers. RESULTS: A total of 242 mother-child pairs participated in the study. The mean (standard deviation) of maternal age and children’s age was 27.13 (5.73) years and 12.2 (6.7) months, respectively. From the total, 96/242 (39.7%) used bottle-feeding for their children in the first six months of life. In multivariable analysis, urban residence (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.96, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] (1.06, 3.63), not receiving breastfeeding education (AOR 1.92, 95% CI 1.07, 3.45) and child hospitalization (AOR 1.83, 95% CI 1.02, 3.28) were significantly associated with bottle-feeding. CONCLUSION: There was a high usage of bottle-feeding and it was found to be associated with child hospitalisation. To avoid bottle-feeding, urgent actions are required to support and educate mothers regarding breastfeeding with special attention to urban-residence ones.