Infant feeding practices in Cape Coast, Ghana: A sociological perspective

Abstract

Infant feeding has not always been seen as a social behaviour by health professionals and this has contributed substantiallyto infant mortality among various communities. This paper describes infant feeding practices among mothers in Cape Coast from a sociological perspective. A Symbolic interactionist perspective guided the study, and a descriptive crosssectional survey design methodology was used. The study targeted women, 20 years and above, with not more than six month old babies. A total of 138 mothers were selected at the Central Regional Hospital. Mother’s marital and employment status, their friends’ way of feeding their babies, social support and baby’s age influenced mothers’ infant feeding practices. Culturally, water, as a welcome drink, was also found to be an important part of infant feeding practices. It is recommended that the Ghana Health Service should fashion infant feeding education taking into consideration socioculturalfactors.