Determinants of Delayed Initiation of Breastfeeding: A Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates

Zainab Taha, Aysha Ibrahim Al Dhaheri, Ludmilla Wikkeling-Scott, Ahmed Ali Hassan and Dimitrios Papandreou
Additional contact information
Zainab Taha: Department of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 144534, United Arab Emirates
Aysha Ibrahim Al Dhaheri: Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 144534, United Arab Emirates
Ludmilla Wikkeling-Scott: School of Community Health and Policy, Portage Campus, Morgan State University, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, MD 21251, USA
Ahmed Ali Hassan: Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 144534, United Arab Emirates
Dimitrios Papandreou: Department of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 144534, United Arab Emirates

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-10

Abstract: One of the best practices to reduce the risk of infant morbidity and mortality is the early initiation of breastfeeding, specifically within the first hour of birth, as the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends. Limited data exist on breastfeeding initiation and its related factors in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). Therefore, the purpose of this research study was to evaluate and analyze the determinant factors associated with delayed initiation of breastfeeding among mothers with children aged <2 years old in a cross-sectional multicenter setting in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Seven governmental community and healthcare centers participated in the study from diverse geographic areas of Abu Dhabi. A trained female research assistant collected information from mothers with young children attending the centers. All participants were informed in detail about the purpose of the study and signed a written consent form. A total of 1610 mother–child pairs were included in the study. The mean (standard deviation) of maternal age and children’s age was 30.1 (5.1) years and 8.1 (5.9) months, respectively. Six hundred and four (604) (37.5%) reported delayed initiation of breastfeeding. Factors associated with delayed breastfeeding initiation were being of non-Arab nationality (adjusted odds ratio (A.O.R.) 1.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03, 1.63), caesarean section (AOR 2.85, 95% CI 2.26, 3.58), non-rooming-in (AOR 2.82, 95% CI 1.53, 5.21), first birth order (AOR 1.34, 95% CI 1.07, 1.69), and mothers with low-birth-weight children (AOR 3.30, 95% CI 2.18, 4.99) as was analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. In conclusion, approximately four out of ten mothers delayed initiation of breastfeeding for more than one hour after delivery. The results of this study call for urgent policy changes to improve the early initiation rates of breastfeeding mothers in the U.A.E.

Keywords: delayed initiation of breastfeeding; caesarean section; rooming-in; low birth weight; birth order; United Arab Emirates (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9048/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9048/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9048-:d:871358

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().