Infant feeding practices, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of mothers with 0-6 months babies attending baby-friendly accredited health facilities and non-baby friendly accredited health facilities in Blantyre, Malawi

Abstract

The Ministry of Health in Malawi promotes exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary feeding up to two years or beyond. This policy applies to all children unless there are medical indications. Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI is a strategy that contributes to the attainment of this policy. BFHI is a strategy to increase early and e elusive breastfeeding rates among mothers. This study is a pilot to evaluate the success o e BFHI initiative in Malawi. Study design : A cross-sectional cohort study of women and their infants, 0-5 months, attending BFHI and non-BFHI accredited health facilities in Blantyre district of Malawi between the period from 28th April to 30th September 2008 was conducted