Table 3.
Determinants of early initiation of breast-feeding and bottle-feeding in nine sub-Saharan African countries with high burden of diarrhoea mortality; data from the most recent and pooled Demographic and Health Survey data sets for 50 975 children under 24 months of age*
| Timely initiation of breast-feeding | Bottle-feeding | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample | Unadjusted | Adjusted | Sample | Unadjusted | Adjusted | |||||||||||
| Size (n †) | % | OR | 95 % CI | P | OR | 95 % CI | P | Size (n †) | % | OR | 95 % CI | P | OR | 95 % CI | P | |
| Socio-economic | ||||||||||||||||
| Maternal education | ||||||||||||||||
| No education | 10 607 | 44·7 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1075 | 4·5 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| Primary education | 6731 | 43·7 | 1·07 | 1·02, 1·12 | 0·004 | 0·95 | 0·90, 1·00 | 0·061 | 1437 | 9·3 | 1·49 | 1·36, 1·63 | <0·001 | 1·19 | 1·08, 1·31 | 0·001 |
| Secondary education or above | 4829 | 43·3 | 1·21 | 1·15, 1·28 | <0·001 | 0·94 | 0·88, 1·00 | 0·074 | 1756 | 15·8 | 2·84 | 2·60, 3·11 | <0·001 | 1·64 | 1·46, 1·83 | <0·001 |
| Maternal employment | ||||||||||||||||
| Not working | 10 227 | 49·2 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1873 | 9·0 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| Working | 11 939 | 46·4 | 1·00 | 0·96, 1·04 | 0·883 | 0·99 | 0·95, 1·03 | 0·791 | 2393 | 9·2 | 0·98 | 0·92, 1·06 | 0·731 | 0·98 | 0·91, 1·05 | 0·667 |
| Household wealth | ||||||||||||||||
| Poor | 8970 | 40·8 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1235 | 5·6 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| Middle | 8949 | 45·8 | 1·16 | 1·11, 1·21 | <0·001 | 1·08 | 1·03, 1·14 | <0·001 | 1595 | 8·1 | 1·48 | 1·37, 1·61 | <0·001 | 1·20 | 1·09, 1·31 | <0·001 |
| Rich | 4252 | 49·1 | 1·44 | 1·36, 1·52 | <0·001 | 1·21 | 1·12, 1·31 | <0·001 | 1438 | 16·9 | 3·40 | 3·11, 3·71 | <0·001 | 2·02 | 1·78, 2·29 | <0·001 |
| Health service | ||||||||||||||||
| ANC visits | ||||||||||||||||
| None | 3725 | 39·3 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 694 | 7·3 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| 1–3 | 8790 | 45·6 | 1·24 | 1·17, 1·31 | <0·001 | 1·09 | 1·02, 1·16 | 0·004 | 1211 | 6·3 | 1·37 | 1·23, 1·52 | <0·001 | 1·01 | 0·90, 1·14 | 0·795 |
| ≥4 | 9655 | 45·1 | 1·43 | 1·35, 1·51 | <0·001 | 1·17 | 1·10, 1·25 | <0·001 | 2362 | 11·0 | 1·93 | 1·75, 2·13 | <0·001 | 1·14 | 1·02, 1·27 | 0·021 |
| Place of birth | ||||||||||||||||
| Home | 9328 | 39·5 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1592 | 6·7 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| Health facility | 12 842 | 48·3 | 1·52 | 1·45, 1·58 | <0·001 | 1·48 | 1·40, 1·56 | <0·001 | 2675 | 10·1 | 1·91 | 1·78, 2·06 | <0·001 | 1·04 | 0·94, 1·14 | 0·389 |
| PNC visits | ||||||||||||||||
| None | 11 368 | 40·1 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1982 | 6·8 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| 0–2 d | 5771 | 50·5 | 1·72 | 1·64, 1·80 | <0·001 | 1·18 | 1·12, 1·24 | <0·001 | 1286 | 11·2 | 2·34 | 2·16, 2·54 | <0·001 | 1·19 | 1·08, 1·31 | <0·001 |
| 3–42 d | 4762 | 48·9 | 1·47 | 1·39, 1·55 | <0·001 | 1·03 | 0·98, 1·09 | 0·206 | 1000 | 10·3 | 2·58 | 2·37, 2·82 | <0·001 | 1·33 | 1·20, 1·47 | <0·001 |
| Individual | ||||||||||||||||
| Maternal age | ||||||||||||||||
| 15–24 years | 7223 | 42·2 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1490 | 8·7 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| 25–34 years | 10 705 | 45·2 | 1·15 | 1·10, 1·20 | <0·001 | 1·16 | 1·11, 1·22 | <0·001 | 2041 | 8·6 | 1·04 | 0·96, 1·11 | 0·275 | 1·02 | 0·95, 1·11 | 0·485 |
| 35–49 years | 4243 | 45·2 | 1·15 | 1·09, 1·21 | <0·001 | 1·18 | 1·11, 1·25 | <0·001 | 737 | 7·9 | 0·90 | 0·82, 0·99 | 0·041 | 1·01 | 0·91, 1·12 | 0·755 |
DRC, Demographic Republic of Congo; ANC, antenatal clinic; PNC, postnatal clinic; Ref., reference category.
Timely initiation of breast-feeding=children 0–23 months of age who were put to the breast within one hour of birth; bottle-feeding=children 0–23 months of age who received any liquid (including breast milk) or semi-solid food from a bottle with a nipple/teat.
Multivariate models adjusted for the potential confounding factors of maternal marital status, place of residence, child’s age and gender.
Burkina Faso (2010), N 5710; DRC (2013), N 6797; Ethiopia (2013), N 4193; Kenya (2014), N 7024; Mali (2013), N 3802; Niger (2013), N 4930; Nigeria (2013), N 11 712; Tanzania (2015), N 3894; and Uganda (2010), N 2913.
Number of children aged 0–23 months who were timely initiated to breast milk or bottle-fed.