Attitudes and practices of breast-feeding in Sudanese urban and rural communities

The study was designed to investigate attitudes and practices of breast-feeding in a representative sample of 1039 Sudanese mothers and document corresponding influencing factors in urban and rural communities in six states. Urban mothers were represented by three (high, middle and poor) socioeconomic classes. Almost all mothers (99.9%) initiated breast-feeding, mostly (83.2%) on the first day between 1-5 hours following delivery. Delay of 6 or more hours was practiced mainly by rural mothers (p < 0.001). The breast-feeding rate was 92.0% at 7 months and 65.0% at one year. Four per cent still breast-fed at 2 years. Urbanization affected frequency of breast-feeding adversely; whereas the presence of sore or retracted nipple had a negative effect on its duration (p < 0.02 and < 0.01, respectively). The majority (89.2%) thought that a new pregnancy contraindicated the continuation of breast-feeding and 67.1% reduced or stopped it if the baby had diarrhoea. On the whole, despite the rapid demographic shifts which the Sudan had witnessed recently, positive attitudes to breast-feeding and its duration were still holding. However, there was a tendency towards shorter duration of breast-feeding in urban affluent mothers in comparison to others.