(Photo from left to right: Francine Wood and Dieudonné Bidashimwa)
Francine Wood, a doctoral candidate at Tulane University in the Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences Department, has been published in the BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth as first author along with her advisor, Dr. Anastasia Gage, a professor focused on adolescent health and maternal and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti, and Dieudonné Bidashimwa, a Health Policy and Management doctoral candidate. Their study is entitled "Insights on exclusive breastfeeding norms in Kinshasa: findings from a qualitative study."
For optimal growth and development, the World Health Organization recommends that children be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life. However, according to the nationally-representative 2013–2014 Demographic and Health Survey, under 50% of babies in the Democratic Republic of Congo are exclusively breastfed.
Although breastfeeding was common in the capital city of Kinshasa, one in five newborns received alternatives to breastmilk during the first 3 days of life. Their analysis in the study aimed to identify social norms influencing exclusive breastfeeding, the role of a young first-time mother’s social network for her choice to exclusively breastfeed, and perceived social sanctions associated with breastfeeding practices in Kinshasa.
They found that participants perceived prevalence of exclusively breastfeeding among first-time mothers in the community was low and this tended to influence whether or not first-time mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding. They also found that injunctive norms against exclusive breastfeeding were strong, with most participants perceiving the mothers and friends of first-time mothers to disapprove of exclusive breastfeeding practices.
Addressing negative social attitudes has the potential to increase the prevalence and duration of exclusive breastfeeding. They concluded that efforts should focus not only on the first-time mother, but also on those who influence infant feeding decisions, such as first-time mothers’ mothers, mothers-in-law, male partners, and friends.
(Photo Dr. Anastasia Gage, a Tulane professor in the Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences Department)
