Breastfeeding carries a lot of advantages; it satisfies nutritional needs of the children under the age of 6 months. It helps the baby in order to reduce the risk of contamination, of malnutrition; protects against diseases and improves neurocognitive development. It also carries social and economic advantages. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has adopted a national policy on infant nutrition to promote counseling, protection and support on infant nutrition practices. The present study evaluates and describes breastfeeding patterns of peri-urban women in Maputo city.

Objectives of study:

To analyze breastfeeding patterns adopted by women in Mavalane area in Maputo City.

Method:

The study took place in 8 health centers at Mavalane health area in Maputo city. It is a cross sectional study, with a sample size of 456 children under 6 months, equally distributed among the 8 health centers of Mavalane health area (57 each center). Data collection was done through a questionnaire, which was tested, revised and, validated. Data analysis was done using SPSS Window 15.0 at significance level of p ≤0.

05 Results:

Out of a total of 456 children selected 53.5% was female and 61.7% was between 2 and-4 months old. 98.2% of the mothers were tested for HIV. 94.1% of the women reported that they were breastfeeding but 66.3% did not breastfeed exclusively and they introduced food at the age of 4 months. Mothers who were not breastfeeding reported weaning at the age of 3 months (57.9%) and 78.3% of them revealed that the main reason was their own health problems. Mothers older than 25 reported more exclusive breastfeeding (p 0,004). However the most educated women tend to breastfeed exclusively (p 0.004) less; when the child is taking cotrimoxazol increases the chance of exclusively breastfeeding (p 0.001). Related to traditional practices, 58.4% of the mothers gives traditional medications and started at the age of 1 month (61.9%), therefore socio-cultural factors it reduces the chance of exclusively breastfeeding (p 0.001) Conclusion: Socio demographic factors (age of the mother, level of education), mothers medical history (taking of cotrimoxazol by the baby) and sociocultural factors (traditional rituals, herbal infusions) significantly influence the patterns of breastfeeding of the peri urban and sub urban women in Mavalane area.