Breastfeeding Literature Review

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter would be discussed under the following sub-headings: conceptual review, empirical review, theoretical framework and summary of reviewed literature.

2.1 Conceptual Review

The Conceptual Review is discussed under the following headings

- Exclusive Breastfeeding Rate Globally

- The Innocent Declaration

- Nutritional Components and Properties of breast milk

- The Benefit of Exclusive Breastfeeding

- Associated Factors Inhibiting Successful Breastfeeding Practice

- Factors That Promote Exclusive Breastfeeding Practice

The Concept of Exclusive Breastfeeding Practice

Breast feeding has been reported to be an age-old practice that has been very important not only to the physiology, growth, and overall wellbeing

Even when mothers were not in a position to breast feed due to sickness or death, other women were made to breast feed the newborn. Over time, these women, called wet nurses became readily and widely available for breastfeeding services, especially for affluent families. According to (Sellen, 2009), the emergence of wet nursing in human societies first served as an ‘alternative of need’ e.g. during sickness, and later an alternative of choice e.g when it became commercialized. In Europe for instance, wet nursing became a lucrative employment and had been the dominant form of infant feeding from early 15th century to mid-18th century. By late 16th to early 17th century, concerns about wet nursing had grown; and calls for mothers to breastfeed their own babies were supported by leading authorities like Jacques Guillemeau, a French Obstetrician (Stevens, Patrick &Picklers,

Based on the WHO global data on infant and young child feeding in Nigeria, 22.3% of children were exclusively breastfed for less than six months in the year 2013. Also the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), 2013, reported that exclusive breastfeeding rate in Nigeria is 17%. This is poor and below the world average of over 35%. Although the rate of exclusive breastfeeding for the past two decades has been increasing, it is certainly clear that nevertheless, that the road to a world health organization target of 90% coverage of exclusive breastfeeding in 2025 remains a demanding