Page 38 - nhms2016 maternal and child findings

24
National Health And Morbidity Survey 2016 : Maternal And Child Health (MCH) Volume II : Findings

In addition, mothers who delivered their babies at home had a higher prevalence of early
initiation of breastfeeding as compared to mothers who delivered at private facilities [54.2%
(95% CI: 43.92-64.15)]. In terms of marital status, mother who were married/ cohabiting had
a higher prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding [65.3% (95% CI: 61.40-68.92)]
compared to mothers who were separated /divorced/ widowed/ never married [31.4% (95%
CI: 8.04-70.54)]. Mothers with primary education levels had a higher prevalence [71.2% (95%
CI: 60.68-79.87)] of early initiation of breastfeeding than those with higher education levels
[59.7% (95% CI: 52.84-66.28)]. On the other hand, mothers who were unemployed were more
likely to initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth. The highest prevalence of early initiation
of breastfeeding was among mothers from the income group of RM3000-RM3999 [72.2%
(95% CI: 63.60-79.45)] while the lowest was 13.1% (95% CI: 6.14-25.93) among mothers with
monthly income less than RM1000 (Table 5.3.2.1).

Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practices among infants below 6 months old by
sociodemographic characteristics

The overall prevalence of having ever breastfed was 98.1% (95% CI 96.23-99.04). The highest
prevalence of having ever breastfed was among Indians [100% (95% CI: 100.00-100.00)],
Malay [99.1% (95% CI: 97.85-99.60] and the lowest was among Chinese [96.4% (95% CI:
89.93-98.74)]. On the other hand, mothers who were separated/ divorced/ widowed/ never
married had a higher prevalence of having ever breastfed (100%) than those who were
married/ cohabiting [98.1% (95% CI: 96.18-99.03)]. In addition, there was no significant
difference on having ever breastfed by the methods of delivery. Mothers who were self-
employed had the highest prevalence (100%) of having ever breastfed as compared to
mothers working in the private sector [99.5% (95% CI: 98.09-99.87)] and public sector [98.6%
(95% CI: 94.69-99.66)] followed by housewives [96.8% (95% CI: 93.01-98.60)]. Meanwhile,
the highest prevalence of having ever breastfed by monthly income was seen in those with
household income of RM1000-RM1999 [99.7% (95% CI: 97.99-99.96)] while the lowest was
from those with household income RM5000 and above [96.0% (95% CI: 90.74-98.34)].

The overall prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants under six months old was
47.1% (95% CI: 43.13-51.18). By ethnicity, the highest prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding
was among Malays [48.9% (95% CI: 44.19-53.66)], followed by Other Bumiputera [46.0%
(95% CI: 35.90-56.44)], Indians [41.8% (95% CI: 20.32-66.88)] and Chinese [29.6% (95% CI:
16.48-47.19)]. In terms of marital status, mothers who were married/ cohabiting had a higher
prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding [47.4% (95% CI: 43.36-51.45)] than those who were
separated/ divorced/ widowed/ never married [24.3% (95% CI: 6.38-60.15)]. In addition,
housewives [53.4% (95% CI: 47.79-58.99)] were more likely to exclusively breastfeed their
infants as compared to those working in the public sector [46.0% (95% CI: 36.42-55.98)], and
self-employed mothers [43.0% (95% CI: 27.96-59.42)]. Mothers who had primary education
levels [50.7% (95% CI: 38.18-63.15)] and without education [50.2% (95% CI: 26.89-73.49)]
were more likely to exclusively breastfeed their infant as compared to those with secondary
education [44.5% (95% CI: 38.60-50.56)]. In addition, the prevalence of infants under 6
months who were exclusively breastfed was highest among the lowest household income
group of less than RM1000 [51.0% (95% CI: 38.38-63.52)] and the lowest was found among
those with monthly household income of RM2000-RM2999 [41.0% (95% CI: 31.16-51.53)].
However, there was no significant difference by sex of the children, citizenship of mother,
marital status, occupation and education level of the mothers (Table 5.3.2.2).