Adherence to feeding guidelines among HIV-infected and HIV uninfected mothers in a rural district in Uganda.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the infant feeding behaviour of HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected mothers, and identify factors influencing adherence to infant feeding guidelines.


METHODS
Analytical cross-sectional study.


METHODS
Bushenyi, rural district in South-western Uganda


METHODS
One hundred and ninety four mothers who had a child less than 12 months of age. About half, 94 (48.5%), of these were HIV-infected.


METHODS
Proportion of mothers who exclusively breastfed, complementary fed, replacement fed, and adhered to feeding guidelines.


RESULTS
Most (84.5%, 164/194) of the mothers had ever breastfed their infants, the rest had exclusively replacement fed since birth. Among children less than six months who were breastfeeding, 31.5% (34/108) were exclusively breastfeeding and the rest were mixed feeding. HIV-infected mothers were more likely than HIV-uninfected mothers to exclusively breastfeed (Crude Odds Ratio [COR], 3.61, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.42-9.21). For infants older than six months, complementary feeding was more common among HIV-uninfected (100%) than HIV-infected mothers (41.7%; P < 0.001). Among infants of all ages, none of the HIV-uninfected and 45% of HIV-infected mothers were replacement feeding (p < 0.001). More than a half (59.8%) of the mothers adhered to infant feeding guidelines. The only independent predictor of adherence after multivariate analysis was mother ever attending infant feeding counselling (AOR 9.03; 95% CI 4.03-20.25). Only 35% of mothers reported ever attending infant feeding counselling.


CONCLUSIONS
Infant feeding counselling was associated with improved adherence to feeding guidelines. Since infant feeding counselling is low in this population there is need for scale-up of this essential service.
Babirye
J N
JN
Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health Sciences, Makerere University School of Public Health, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
Nuwaha
F
F
Grulich
A E
AE
D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult