Breast-Feeding and Complementary Feeding Practices in Egypt and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

An interview survey was conducted on 639 and 340 mother-child pairs from Ismailia, Egypt and Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA], respectively. The children were 13-36 months old. Mothers were selected randomly from primary health care centers. The study aimed at comparing breast-feeding practices in the study areas and to identify some determinants of exclusive breast-feeding and early complementary feeding. The study has shown that 39.7% of Egyptian mothers and 66.4% of Saudi mothers initiated exclusive breast-feeding at 4-6 months. Most of Egyptian mothers [60.3%] started complementary feeding early [before 4 months] as compared to [33.6%] of the Saudis. Egyptian mothers tended to terminate breast-feeding later than Saudi mothers. More than one-third of Saudi mothers did that during the first 6 months of child age, as compared to only 6.7% in Egypt. The majority of Egyptian mothers [77.2%] gave sugar water or infant formula soon after giving birth, the comparable figure in Saudi mothers was only [34.4%]. Women’s primary sources of information and support for breast-feeding were: nobody [i.e., personal decision], mother or close relatives, and medical personnel. In both study areas, early complementary feeding increased with higher levels of mothers’ education, younger mother’s age, mother’s employment, shorter maternity leave, longer hospital stay after delivery, and narrower inter-pregnancy spacing. Early initiation of breast-feeding within the first hour of birth showed no association with early complementary feeding neither in Egypt nor in KSA. The study recommends that efforts to improve breast-feeding should include a variety of strategies and target groups, as well as modifying key behaviors found to be most detrimental to exclusive breast-feeding by trying innovative strategies in health education and mass media programs.