INFANT-FEEDING PRACTICES OF THE IGBO, NIGERIA

The pattern of infant feeding and attitudes of the mothers towards breast feeding, morbidity and mortality of a sample of the Nigerian Igbo tribe was studied. The result showed that: — Ninety-four percent of all mothers breast fed their infants for at least six months. The duration was longer among the non-educated than the educated mothers. — The size of the family decreased with increases in educational attainment. Eighty percent of the mothers gave their babies supplementary food between 3–7 months of age. A special weaning diet was used by 49 percent of the educated mothers and 27 percent of the non-educated mothers. — Twenty percent of the children has at least one attack of diarrhoea before the age of six months. One out of every eleven children was admitted at least once to the hospital before the end of six months. The prevalence of diarrhoea, malnutrition and possibly death could be attributed to a number of factors. These include: the introduction of supplementary food too early in unsanitary conditions, the ignorance of the mothers of what the weaning diet should constitute, the large number of children in the family, and the unhiegienic environment. © 1979, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.