Objectives: The main objective of this study is to examine the breast feeding and complementary feeding practices among farming communities of Southern Ethiopia. Methods: It is a cross sectional survey design employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study used primary data collected from 1094 households located in ten kebeles (the smallest administrative segment) through the multistage probability sampling technique. Information on demography of breast feeding was measured by universally accepted computational tools given by WHO. Data were analyzed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques. Result: The result demonstrated that a large proportion of respondents were breast feeding their last child (age <2) during the survey. Majority of the women initiated breast feeding early (just at birth); 56% of women practiced exclusive breast feeding and more than 86% reported consistently continuing breast feeding until age 2. The result indicated that complementary feeding starts late for significant proportion of children at age 6–8 months and a larger proportion of children in the age groups 6–8 and 9–11 months did not get the core food groups such as cereal, egg, and meat. The results of the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression revealed that four variables have appeared to predict the level of dietary food consumption, namely experiencing child death during the last 5 years preceding the survey, institutional delivery of the last child, literacy status and household hunger. Also, three predictors appeared to have significant association with the likelihood of continuation of breast feeding at age 2; namely, age of women, household hunger and working outside home. Conclusion: The study concluded that there are positive signs on infant and child feeding practices which should be promoted such as the relatively higher rate of exclusive breastfeeding during the first half of infancy and continued breast feeding through the second year of life and beyond. There are also certain practices that require attention which include the widespread use of bottles, delayed introduction of complementary foods, and low dietary diversity throughout the first 2 years of life

• MeSH
• Time Factors MeSH
• Infant MeSH
• Breast Feeding * statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Bottle Feeding statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Infant, Newborn MeSH
• Infant Nutrition Disorders epidemiology   etiology   MeSH
• Infant Food * statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Nutrition Surveys * methods   statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Infant MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Infant, Newborn MeSH
• Publication type
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Ethiopia MeSH

Příspěvek představuje analýzu pohnutek a frekvenci opouštění novorozenců matkami v porodnici. Dále je porovnáván přístup matek romských a neromských k následné péči o jejich novorozence. Zaznamenána byla vyšší frekvence opouštění novorozenců romskými matkami, a to zejména v den porodu, nejčastěji z důvodu nezajištěné péče o další děti v domácnosti matek. Tendence romských matek opustit v porodnici i další narozené dítě u nich byla vyšší než u matek neromských. Mezi romskými a neromskými matkami byl zaznamenán signifikantní rozdíl v zajištění potřeb novorozenců v oblasti výživy (upřednostňování kojení před umělou výživou) a hygieny (frekvence přebalování novorozence). Romské matky častěji považovaly návštěvu pediatra a dětské sestry v domácnosti za neužitečnou.

The paper presents an analysis of motives and the frequency of abandonment of newborns by mothers in the maternity hospital. It also compares the approach of the Roma and non-Roma mothers to follow-up care for their newborn. Higher frequency was observed in abandoning the newborn by the Roma mothers, especially on the day of childbirth, usually because of unsecured care of their children at home. The tendency of the Roma mothers to abandon in the maternity hospital another child was higher than in non-Roma mothers. Between the Roma and non-Roma mothers was recorded a significant difference in securing the needs of newborns in the field of nutrition (prioritization of breast feeding to artificial feeding) and hygiene (frequency of changing the newborn). The Roma mothers often consider a visit of the paediatrician and paediatric nurse in the home environment as useless.

• Keywords
• Romka, neromská žena, domácí prostředí,
• MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Breast Feeding * statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Bottle Feeding statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Child, Unwanted * psychology   statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Infant, Newborn MeSH
• Infant Care * methods   statistics & numerical data   trends   MeSH
• Parturition MeSH
• Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
• Roma * MeSH
• Mother-Child Relations * ethnology   MeSH
• Women MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Infant, Newborn MeSH