Early Newborn Bath Practice and Its Associated Factors in Jimma, South West Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract

Aims

The timing of the first bath is an important variable in newborn care despite variations from setting to setting. Early first bath can affect the newborn’s temperature, blood sugar levels, bonding with his/her mother, comfort, and security. Thus, timing affects several aspects of newborn care and is still a major concern. However, in Ethiopia, there is insufficient evidence regarding newborn bath timing. Therefore, this study aimed to assess early newborn bath practice and its associated factors in Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia, 2021.

Materials and Methods

An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July to August 2021 on 388 postpartum women who came for newborn immunization. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Data were entered into Epi-data 4.4.2.1 and exported to Stata version 14 for cleaning and analysis. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between explanatory and response variables. The level of significance was declared at a p-value of less than 0.05 in multivariable logistic regression.

Results

This study revealed 126 (32.5%) of mothers were practicing early newborn bathing. Vaginal mode of delivery (AOR: 3.84 (95% CI: 1.96–7.52)), poor knowledge about danger signs (AOR: 6.78 (95% CI: 3.77–12.19), poor knowledge about hypothermia (AOR: 0.35 (95% CI: 0.20–0.58) and educational level of women (AOR: 0.33 (95% CI: 0.15–0.73) were variables significantly associated with early newborn bathing practice.

Conclusion

Early neonatal bathing practice in this study is high and needs priority as it results in neonatal hypothermia and its complications. Therefore, Education for women and their families on delayed bathing of their newborns could begin in antenatal care visit, on admission into the labor and delivery unit and again on the postpartum unit.

Keywords:

• early newborn bath
• the timing of newborn bath
• associated factors
• Ethiopia

Abbreviations

AHR, adjusted hazard ratio; ANC, antenatal care; FMoH, Federal Minister of Health; GA, gestational age; HBV, hepatitis type B virus; HEW, health extension worker; HIV, human immune-deficiency virus; IMR, infant mortality rate; JMC, Jimma Medical Center; NICU, neonatal intensive care unit; NMR, newborn mortality rate; PNC, postnatal care; SGH, Shanan Gibe Hospital; SVD, spontaneous vaginal delivery; TBA, traditional birth attendant; WHO, World Health Organization.

Data Sharing Statement

The raw data file could be provided for research purposes only, upon request via e-mail of the corresponding author.

Ethical Consideration

Before data collection, official letter was obtained from the Jimma University review board and official permission was asked from Jimma medical center. The participants were informed about the purpose of the study and were asked their permission before data collection. In addition, the confidentiality of the information was assured and the privacy of the study participants was respected to ensure confidentiality the names of respondents were not written on the consent form. Generally, all methods in the study were carried out in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki as a statement of ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects.

Acknowledgments

First, we would like to thank Jimma University Institute of Health, Faculty of Health Science, and School of Midwifery for allowing us to do this research paper. Secondly, we would like to thank Jimma Medical Center and Shanan Gibe Hospital administrators for their absolute willingness to help. It is also our pleasure to thank the data collectors, supervisors, and participants for their cooperation.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported: whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis, interpretation and all these areas: took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

The authors declare that no financial funding was received for the study, authorship, and publication of this article.