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Sociocultural Factors Influencing Breastfeeding Practices in Two Slums in Nairobi .pdf (753.44 kB)

Sociocultural factors influencing breastfeeding practices in two slums in Nairobi, Kenya

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posted on 2017-03-27, 09:46 authored by Milka Wanjohi, Paula GriffithsPaula Griffiths, Frederick Wekesah, Peterrock Muriuki, Nelson Muhia, Rachel N. Musoke, Hillary N. Fouts, Nyovani J. Madise, Elizabeth W. Kimani-Murage
Background: Despite numerous interventions promoting optimal breastfeeding practices in Kenya, pockets of suboptimal breastfeeding practices are documented in Kenya’s urban slums. This paper describes cultural and social beliefs and practices that influence breastfeeding in two urban slums in Nairobi, Kenya. Methods: Qualitative data were collected in Korogocho and Viwandani slums through 10 focus group discussions and 19 in-depth interviews with pregnant, breastfeeding women and community health volunteers and 11 key-informant interviews with community leaders. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, coded in NVIVO and analyzed thematically. Results: Social and cultural beliefs and practices that result to suboptimal breastfeeding practices were highlighted including; considering colostrum as ‘dirty’ or ‘curdled milk’, a curse ‘bad omen’ associated with breastfeeding while engaging in extra marital affairs, a fear of the ‘evil eye’ (malevolent glare which is believed to be a curse associated with witchcraft) when breastfeeding in public and breastfeeding being associated with sagging breasts. Positive social and cultural beliefs were also identified including the association of breast milk with intellectual development and good child health. The beliefs and practices were learnt mainly from spouses, close relatives and peers. Conclusion: Interventions promoting behavior change with regards to breastfeeding should focus on dispelling the beliefs and practices that result to suboptimal breastfeeding practices and to build on the positive ones, while involving spouses and other family members as they are important sources of information on breastfeeding.

Funding

This study was funded by the Wellcome Trust (Grant # 097146/Z/11/Z). This research was also made possible through the funding for APHRC by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Grant# 2009–40510), and the Swedish International Cooperation Agency (SIDA) (Grant# 2011–001578). PG is supported by a British Academy mid-career fellowship (Ref: MD120048).

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

International Breastfeeding Journal

Volume

12

Issue

1

Citation

WANJOHI, M. ...et al., 2016. Sociocultural factors influencing breastfeeding practices in two slums in Nairobi, Kenya. International Breastfeeding Journal, 12:5.

Publisher

© The Authors. Published by Biomed Central.

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/

Acceptance date

2016-12-12

Publication date

2017-01-11

Notes

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by BioMed Central under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

eISSN

1746-4358

Language

  • en

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