PERCEPTION OF BENEFITS AND DANGERS OF MOTHER-CHILD TRADITIONAL SLEEPING POSITIONS AMONG NURSING MOTHERS IN IBADAN NORTH-WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

Abstract

Implications and impact of mother- child sleeping positions Have generated interest in developed countries in the last decade because emerging evidence suggests a causal relationship with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The risk of SIDS is proven to be high for infants who are placed to sleep in wrong sleeping position. The infant mortality rate is 112/1000 live birth in Nigeria and researches have shown that SIDS contribute significantly to infant mortality. There has been little or no interest on this topic in developing countries by researchers despite the evidence that SIDS was a leading cause of post neonatal infant mortality in developed countries. This study therefore aimed to investigate perception of benefits And dangers of mother-child traditional sleeping positions among nursing mothers in Ibadan North-west Local Government Area, Nigeria. A cross-sectional descriptive survey involving 422 willing Nursing mothers from Ibadan north-west local government Area ((LGA) was conducted. Participants were recruited using 3-stage sampling technique which involved selection at Local Government level, Ward level and final selection from households. Respondents were interviewed using an Interviewer-administered, validated questionnaire. Overall perception was assessed using a 19-item instrument with a total score of 38. Score ≤ 18 was categorised as poor while scores ˃19 was categorised as good. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi square test at p=0.05 level of significance. Age of respondents was 31.8 ± 5.9 years. Most of the respondents (89.3%) were married and 40.8% had secondary education. Majority (94.3%) belonged to the Yoruba ethnic group, 45.7% were Into business, 19.9% civil servants, and about 27.3% had 3 children. More than half (59.0%) were currently breastfeeding, 78.7% had received information on the safest method of Breastfeeding while 64.5% received information from health Workers. Most (94.5%) of the respondents did not breastfeed in prone sleeping position while majority (88.6%) breastfeed in side sleeping position, 95.3% did not breastfeed in supine sleeping Position and only 52.4% breastfeed in sitting position. The result showed that 98.0% of the respondents had good perception. There were significant associations between “ethnicity, level of education, occupation and marital status” and “mother-child side sleeping position”. Mother-child sitting sleeping position also showed significant association with the ethnicity, level of education, occupation and marital status. Despite the fact that the nursing mothers have good perception of benefits and dangers of traditional sleeping positions, they did not put them into practice. Almost all the nursing mothers practiced mother-child side sleeping position while only few Practiced mother-child supine sleeping position. Public enlightenment should be carried out to educate the public on the benefits of infants’ supine sleeping position and dangers of Infants’ side sleeping position to mother and child. There is need to work with the pediatrician to really confirm the fact that side sleeping positions has led to sudden infant death syndrome.