Bosom feeding which is the act of feeding babies with Bosom milk. This is a universal cultural practice among human species of all races. However, there are commonly observable variations in the frequency and exclusiveness of application of Bosom milk in the feeding of babies. This is noted by Berg and Brenms (1989) who asserted that the question about Bosom feeding is not whether it is being practiced or not, but the degree of practice. There are, therefore types of Bosom feeding of which three categories are discernible from literature: Exclusive, predominant and complementary Bosom feeding. Exclusive Bosom feeding (EBF) is the application of Bosom milk alone in the feeding of a baby for at least four months and if possible six months of life, without the addition of water, food or drinks. The baby however receives vitamins, minerals and medicines in the form of drops and syrup as need arises (WHO,1981). The World Health Organization WHO (2001) received the optional duration of EBF to six months of life. The second type of Bosom feeding, predominant Bosom feeding (PBF), on the other hand, implies that the infants predominant source of nourishment is Bosom milk. The infant in this type receives in addition of Bosom milk, water and water based drinks (WHO 2001). Complimentary Bosom feeding (CBF) or mixed feeding occurs where factory produced baby formula is the primary source of nourishment for the infant, the Bosom milk given occasionally. This practice offers mother chance to attend to their daily activities while nannies and house helps attend to babies: This present study was however concerned with exclusive Bosom feeding. Promotion of Bosom feeding, particularly EBF, has been the focus of many public health and nutrition programmes and activities in recent years. Thus a joint World health Organization/ united Nations children’s fund (WHO/UNICEF) meeting on infant and young child feeding was held in Genera in 1979 and the emphasis was on Bosom feeding. In 1981 the combined force of the W.H.O and UNICEF produced the W.H.O international code of marketing of Bosom milk substitute. The main aim of the code obviously was to safeguard the practice of Bosom feeding. To enhance Bosom feeding practices, WHO launched the baby friendly hospital initiative in 1992 as a primary intervention strategy for promoting and strengthening national health systems. The initiative has been implemented in 138 countries (including Nigeria) and the number of hospitals world wide designated baby friendly has risen from 6,300 in 1995 to nearly 40,000 by mid 2008 (WHO, 2009). Cataldo De Bryne and whitney (1999) asserted that EBF is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants. The authors explained that nutritionally, Bosom milk is a complete food for the infant, providing all the nutrients needed for the first month of life. Psychologically, Bosom feeding permits an initial bonding between mother and child. Economically, Bosom -milk economizes on house hold expenditures on food and requires no itensils, water or fuel for preparation. However, the lactating woman do not have higher nutrient requirements and make substantial time to Bosom feeding. Berg and Brenms (1989) cited Bosom milk for it’s anti-infective properties, lower incidence of diarrhea diseases, allergies and other illness among Bosom fed infants. It removes the danger of malnutrition caused by dilution of bottle feed and of infection caused by unhygienic preparation (Berg and Brenms, 1989). However, it seems that EBF is still not widely accepted campaign by government and non-governmental organizations has gone far, but it appears not to be yielding expected dividend. The question that are yet to be answered, lies in determining those factors which can predict levels of acceptance or rejection of EBF. Possible predictor could be sourced from social mographic circumstances of the mothers. For instance such social demographic factors as religious affiliation, occupation, educational status, parity, age, as well as location are deemed to be capable of influencing adoption of exclusive Bosom feeding. Parity has to do with the number of deliveries a woman has had. Bosom feeding, in Nigeria is still the norm as most mothers Bosom feed their babies traditionally. However, exclusive Bosom feeding is an innovation to the traditional way of feeding an infant where mothers starts complementary feeding as early as two months of life or even less. A woman who has nursed several babies successfully before may not be easily convinced to stop by giving her infant water and native concoction. She may not see why she should change her method of feeding, since she has successfully used such to nurse her older children (Mathai, 1983). Age is sometimes associated with Bosom feeding. Omololu (1996) pointed out that younger mothers tended to be fashion conscious believing that their Bosom would sag if they get involved in Bosom feeding. The younger mothers may also be over conscious of their body and looks and may not be willing to Bosom feed the baby anywhere as the baby demand. Location as indicated by Okehialam (1986), Berg and Brems (1989), Barnes, Harjit and Stephers (1990), Cataldo (1990), Guashuddin and kalair (2004), Okehialam is an environmental factor, which could also be associated with Bosom feeding pattern. In the rural area, the extended family system still predominates and the nursing mothers to adopt or reject exclusive Bosom feeding may be dependent on who takes health decision in the family. This, of course, could be the mother-in-law, father-in-law, or any of the extended family members who is close by. In the urban area, the nuclear family predominates and the decision to adopt EBF will be only between the woman and her husband. Apart from this, the mother in the urban area may have to go to school or work which will take her out of the house regularly. This may have an impact on adoption of EBF, since the mother is likely not going to school with her baby and may not have opportunity to comeback and Bosom feed the baby when necessary.
Occupation of the mother place the mother in a social class. The mother may tend to follow what is fashionable or acceptable within the social class in which she be long (Wanmani and Tumwine, 2005). Hence if the social class sees bottle feeding as a mark of affluence, a mother in that class will likely go for bottle feeding. Religion is a predicate and a repository of culture which is a way of life of a people. The mother’s religion may be a pointer to the choice of feeding method the mother is likely to adopt for her infant (Njepuome, 1995). The success of any programme, to a large extent, depends on identification of factors that are susceptible to it’s intervention. The programme of EBF and the intensive media campaign attendant to it as part of the baby friendly initiative of WHO/UNICEF are receiving differential responses from Nigeria population. It seemed that no elaborate study has been conducted in the Enugu State College of Education Technical to identify fact or rejection f EBF. The study of EBF factors are most likely to serve the predictive function in Enugu State College of Education Technical.
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