| dc.description.abstract | The study was aimed at identifying the determinants of duration of breastfeeding in overweight mothers in Uganda using the 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey.
The bivariate Cox Proportional Hazards model indicated that; mother’s age, highest education level, current marital status, parity household wealth index, and mother’s type of residence had independent effects on the duration of breastfeeding among overweight mothers.
Using the multivariable cox proportion Hazards model, the mother’s age, household wealth index, mother’s highest education level, and mother’s parity were significantly associated with the duration of breastfeeding among overweight mothers in Uganda.
Mothers aged 25-29 years are 1.83 times more likely to cease breastfeeding earlier than their counterpart mothers aged 15-24 years (AHR: 1.828, p-value:0.000, CI: 1.510-2.212) while mothers aged 30-34 years are 1.72 times more likely to stop breastfeeding their babies earlier than mothers aged 15-24 years (AHR: 1.724, p-value:0.000, CI:1.410-2.106). The mothers aged 35-39 years are 1.65 times more likely to breastfeed their babies for shorter durations as compared to the mothers aged 15-24 years (AHR: 1.645, p-value: 0.000, CI:1.341-2.018), and the mothers aged 40-49 years are 1.47 times more likely to terminate breastfeeding earlier than their counterpart mothers aged 15-24 years (AHR:1.472, p-value:0.009, CI: 1.104-1965).
Additionally, Multiparous mothers are 23.7% unlikely to breastfeed their babies longer than their counterpart primiparous mothers (HR: 0.763, p-value=0.037, CI: 0.694-0.840). The results also showed that non-married mothers were 12.9% less likely to breastfeed their babies for a longer period as compared to their married counterparts (HR: 0.871, p-value=0.042, CI: 0.792-0.958).
Overweight mothers with Primary as the highest level of education are 1.09 times more likely to discontinue breastfeeding their babies earlier than their counterpart mothers with no education (AHR:1.090, p-value:0.046, CI: 1.001-1.187) while mothers whose level of education is above Primary, are 1.01 times more likely to terminate breastfeeding their babies earlier than mothers with no education although this is not significant at 95% level of significance.
On the other hand, mothers from moderately rich households are 1.106 times more likely to stop breastfeeding their babies earlier than the counterpart mothers from the poorest households (AHR: 1.106, p-value:0.039, CI: 1.005-1.216) and mothers from more rich households are 1.11 times more likely to discontinue breastfeeding their babies earlier than mothers from poorest households (AHR: 1.110, p-value: 0.035, CI: 1.008-1.223) while mothers from richest households are 1.197 times more likely to terminate breastfeeding their babies earlier than mothers from poorest households (AHR: 1.197, p-value: 0.004, CI: 1.061-1.350).
As the link between a mother's educational status and her chance of early breastfeeding termination grows, long-term measures prioritizing education for women and girls should be explored. In the short term, breastfeeding promotion strategies such as counseling and peer education targeting uneducated mothers should be developed and implemented. | en_US |
