INFANT FEEDING PRACTICES OF WOMEN ATTENDING INFANT WELFARE CLINICS IN NSUKKA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE
ABSTRACT
This study examined the infant feeding practices of women attending infant welfare clinics in Nsukka Local Government Area. To achieve the purpose of the study eleven research questions and six corresponding hypotheses were posed to guide the study. The research questions and hypotheses sort to identify the relationships and the significance of the relationship between six independent variables of age, parity, level of education, occupation, location and marital status. Quantitative data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire with twenty three items. The questionnaire was used to collect data on the mother’s socio-demographic variables and their infant feeding practices. The questionnaire was distributed to 630 mothers drawn from the area of study. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population for the study consist of all the mothers that brought their children to infant welfare clinics. The sample for the study was 630 mothers that brought their children to infant welfare clinics in Nsukka Local Government Area. The collected data were analysed using percentages, chi-square and Anova. The result showed that there was no significant relationship between age, parity and feeding practices at .05 level of significance while there was significant relationship between level of education, occupation, location, marital status and infant feeding practices all at .05 level of significance. It was recommended among others that nurses, doctors, health workers should intensify health education teaching to mothers to change their negative attitude towards infant feeding and imbibe positive attitude.