The infant feeding practices of mothers in the Maldives

Abstract

Objective: To document the infant feeding practices of Maldivian mothers. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 251 Maldivian mothers recruited in 2004 from the 'well baby' or 'well child' clinics on the island of Male' and including 75 mothers from three other islands, Hura, Himmafushi and Thulusdhoo. Results: The full breast-feeding rate at hospital discharge was 93% but declined to 41% at 4 months. Any breast-feeding rates were high among Maldivian mothers: 100% at 1 month and 85% were still breast-feeding at 6 months. The median duration of breast-feeding was 24 months. Conclusion: Breast-feeding rates are high and the average duration of breast-feeding is more than 2 years in the Maldives. Health promotion activities should be directed towards maintaining the already high 'any breast-feeding' rates and increasing the proportion of infants exclusively breast-fed to 6 months. © 2007 The Authors.