Multilevel Ordinal Response Modeling of Trend of Breastfeeding Initiation

The amount of health benefits derived from breastfeeding is influenced by age of the child at initiation of the first breast milk, the duration and intensity of breastfeeding and age at which the child is introduced to supplementary foods and other liquids. In this study, the general trend of timing of breastfeeding initiation among nursing mothers in Nigeria between 1990 and 2003 is examined. The timing of initiation of the first breast milk to a child by her mother is measured in a three-level ordinal scale (immediately, within 24 h and days after birth) and the impacts of some socio-economic and maternal factors on this are determined. Results from this study revealed a significant improvement in the trend of early initiation of breast milk among Nigeria mothers between 1990 and 2003 (p<0.0001). Mother’s age at birth, her educational attainment, baby’s deliveries at hospitals and mothers’ domiciling in urban areas contributed positively to early initiation of the first breast milk to babies by Nigerian nursing mothers (p<0.05). In the contrary however, delivery through caesarean operation and the current birth being the first delivery by a mother are both found to militate against early initiation of breastfeeding in Nigeria (p<0.05). Three waves of national data from Nigerian Demographic and Health Surveys for 1990, 1999 and 2003 were employed in the study.