Prelacteal feeds and breast-feeding problems

A recent WHO sponsored study observed that health establishments in some developing countries tend to discourage breast-feeding. In order to determine the factors responsible for it, perinatal infant feeding-related experiences of 210 mother child pairs delivered in five different locales in Benin City, Nigeria, were investigated. It was found that while the participants were similar in relevant backgrounds and had generally similar experiences in the five delivery locales, those of two of the hospitals started bottle-feeding significantly earlier. They had more problems with breast-feeding and breast-fed their babies for shorter durations. These observations were found to be related to the practice of the so-called “pre-lacteal feeds” in the two hospital maternities.