Formula Feeding Practice and Associated Factors Among Mothers Who Visited Health Facilities for Their Infants Aged Below 6 Months in Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia, 2020

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Mothers and Infants Less Than 6 Months of Age (n = 593) in Bahir Dar City Health Facilities in Amhara Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia, from March to May 2020

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percent (%)
Age	15–24	163	27.5
	25–34	335	56.5
	35–49	95	16.0
Religion	Orthodox	450	75.9
	Muslim	112	18.96
	Protestant	31	5.2
Residence	Urban	526	88.7
	Rural	67	11.3
Education	Unable to read and write	48	8.1
	Able to read and write	102	17.2
	Primary education	110	18.5
	Secondary education	210	35.4
	College and above	123	20.7
Marital status	Married	555	93.6
	Single	30	5.1
	Divorced	6	1.0
	Widowed	2	0.3
Occupation	Housewife	250	42.2
	Government employer	145	24.5
	Merchant	76	12.8
	Private employer	71	12.0
	Farmer	38	6.4
	Daily labourer	9	1.5
Wealth index	Poor	196	33.1
	Medium	197	33.2
	High	200	33.7
Do you think a short maternity leave leads to formula feeding?	Yes	405	68.3
	No	188	31.7

Table 2 Obstetrics-Related Factors of Mothers Who Had Infants Less Than 6 Months (n = 593; Otherwise, It is Mentioned) in Bahir Dar City, Amhara Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia, March to May 2020

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percent (%)
Number of children	1	280	47.2
	2–4	294	49.6
	>5	19	3.2
ANC	Yes	590	99.5
	No	3	0.5
Health facility ANC received (n = 590)	Government	493	83.6
	Private	97	16.4
Number of ANC (n = 590)	Once	36	6.1
	Two times	74	12.5
	Three times	129	21.9
	Four times and above	351	59.5
Breastfeeding counseling (n = 590)	Yes	447	75.8
	No	143	24.2
Place of delivery	Gov’t health facility	493	83.1
	Private health facility	96	16.2
	Home	4	0.7
Mode of delivery	Normal/vaginal	511	86.0
	C/S delivery	82	14.0
Postnatal care service	Yes	482	81.3
	No	111	18.7

Table 3 Breastfeeding Practice Among Mothers (n = 593) Who Visited Health Facilities for Immunization and <5 OPD Services for Their Infants Less Than 6 Months of Age in Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia, from March to May 2020

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percent (%)
Ever breastfeeding	Yes	593	100
Time of the initiation of breastfeeding	Within the first hour	527	59.6
	After 1 hour	40	4.5
	After 3 days	26	2.9
Colostrum feeding	Yes	567	95.6
	No	26	4.4
Reason for not feeding colostrum (n = 26)	Maternal illness	16	61.5
	Infant unable to feed	10	38.4
Current breastfeeding status of an infant	Yes	542	91.4
	No	51	9.6

Table 4 Exposure to the Infant Formula Information of Mothers (n = 593) Who Visited Health Facilities for Their Infants Less Than 6 Months of Age in Bahir Dar, Northwest Ethiopia, from March to May 2020

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percent
Exposed to infant formula information	Yes	414	69.82
	No	179	30.18
Information received from advertisement (n = 410)	Good for infant growth	232	56.5
	Similar to breastfeeding	118	28.7
	For infant intelligence	49	11.9
	Make an infant beautiful.	11	2.7
Source of infant formula information (n = 410)	TV/Radio	211	51.5
	Family/friends	134	32.7
	Health professionals	50	12.2
	Supermarket/Pharmacy	15	3.6

Table 5 Factors Associated with Infant Formula Feeding Practice Among Mothers (n = 593) Who Visited Health Facilities for Immunization of Their Infants Less Than 6 Months of Age in Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia, from March to May 2020

Factors	Category	Formula Feeding		COR (95% CI)	AOR (95% CI)
		Yes (%)	No (%)
Age (in years)	15–24	33(22.3%)	130(29.2%)	1	1
	25–34	109(73.6%)	226(50.8%)	1.900(1.22, 2.10)	2.388(1.295, 4.406)*
	35–49	6(4.1%)	89(20.0%)	0.266(0.107,0.660)	0.134(0.026, 1.513)
Education	Unable to R & W	9(6.1)	39(8.8)	1	1
	Able to R & W	9(6.1)	93(20.9)	0.419(0.155,1.136)	0.395(0.078,2.014)
	Prim. Education	31(20.9)	79(17.7)	1.700(0.737,3.921)	1.728(0.450.6.630)
	Secondary Education	64(43.2)	146(32.8)	1.900(0.869,4.152)	0.741(0.222,2.472)
	College+	35(23.4)	88(19.7)	1.723(0.756,3.928)	0.554(0.157,1.961)
Occupation	Housewife	50(33.8)%	200(45.4%)	1	1
	Government	49(31.1%)	96(21.8%)	2.042(1.29, 3.24)	4.060(1.895,8.700)*
	Merchant	17(11.5%)	59(13.4%)	1.153(0.619, 2.15)	2.798(1.066,7.345)*
	Private	25(16.9%)	46(10.4%)	2.174(1.22, 3.87)	6.726(2.756,16.413)*
	Farmer	7(4.7%)	31(7.0%)	0.903(0.376,2.171)	1.718(0.492,2.026)
	Daily labourer	0(0.00)	9(2.0%)	–	–
Wealth index	Poor	58(35.3%)	139(32.4%)	1	1
	Medium	40(20.3%)	160(37.5%)	0.599(0.377,0.951)	0.692(0.355,1.349)
	High	50(44.6%)	146(30.1%)	0.821(0.527,1.279)	1.806(0.824,3.960)
Age of the infant	1–3 months	69(46.6%)	291(65.4%)	0.462(0.317,0.674)	0.703(0.395,1.254)
	4–6 months	79(53.4%)	154(34.6%)	1	1
Number of ANC visits	1–3 times	85(57.4%)	154(34.6%)	2.549(1.744,3.728)	2.294(1.317,3.997)*
	4 times and above	63(42.6%)	291(65.4%)	1	1
Mode of delivery	Normal/vaginal	116(69.6%)	395(91.5%)	1	1
	C/S delivery	32(30.4%)	50(8.5%)	2.179(1.336,0.556)	2.259(0.977,5.222)
Initiation of BF	Within the first hour	119(73.6%)	408(93.9%)	1	1
	After an hour	29(26.4%)	37(6.1%)	2.687(1.586,4.553)	3.73(1.504,9.252)*
Attitude towards IF	Positive	39(26.4%)	43(9.7%)	3.345(2.065,5.418)	2.10(1.090,4.062)*
	Negative	109(73.6%)	402(90.3%)	1	1
Source of information about IF	TV/Radio	66(45.2%)	146(55.1%)	1	1
	Health professional	15(10.3%)	35(13.2%)	0.948(0.485,1.855)	1.67(0.676,4.135)
	Supermarket/Pharmacy	9(6.2%)	6(2.3%)	3.318(1.135,9.704)	6.57(1.481,29.155)*
	Family/friends	56(38.4%)	78(29.4%)	1.588(1.013,2.490)	2.24(1.242,4.034)*

Note: *Significant at p-value of ≤0.05.

Abbreviations: IF, infant formula; COR, crude odds ratio; AOR, adjusted odds ratio.