Final Report (PDF, 2132K) - Measure DHS

2.4 Breastfeeding, Postpartum Amenorrhoea, and AbstinenceFertility is affected by a number of factors other than marriage, including breastfeeding,postpartum amenorrhoea and sexual abstinence. In the ODHS, information on these factors was obtainedfor all live births in the five-years preceding the survey. In this section information is reported for birthswithin 36 months of the survey. Table 2.5 presents the proportion of babies who are still breastfeeding,the proportion of women still amenorrhoeic and the proportion of women abstaining from sexualintercourse by months since the birth. The proportion of women who are insusceptible to the risk ofpregnancy (either amenorrhoeic or abstaining) is also presented.Table 2.5 shows that the practice of bmastfeeding is nearly universal in Ondo State and that itcontinues for a prolonged period. Three months after a birth, over 90 percent of mothers arebreastfeeding and, a year after a birth, approximately 75 percent are still breastfeeding. Overall, themedian duration of breastfeeding is 17 months. This extended period of breastfeeding is consistent withthe estimate of 18 months from the 1981-82 Nigeria Fertility Survey for women of Ondo State (NationalPopulation Bureau and Federal Ministry of Health, 1986) and with recent median estimates for sub-Saharan countries such as Liberia, 17 months (Chieh-Johnson, D., et al., 1988) and Senegal, 19 months(Ndiaye, S., et al., 1988).Table 2.5Percentage of Births Whose Mothers Are Still Breastfeeding,Postpartum Amenorrhoeic, Abstaining, and Insusceptible, byNumber of Months Since Birth, ODHS, 1986Proportion of Births Whose Mothers Are:MonthsNumberSince Breast- ~a~enor- Abstain- Insus- ofBirth feeding rhoeic ing ceptible Births*Less than 2 94.9 90.7 96.9 97.9 972 - 3 92.5 86.8 94.3 97.2 1064 - 5 94.4 80.8 94.4 97.6 1256 - 7 83.3 67.6 84.3 87.0 1088 - 9 88.0 63.9 81.2 84.2 13310 - ii 84.4 59.4 76.6 81.5 12812 - 13 71.7 48.3 69.2 74.2 12014 - 15 74.2 45.0 68.0 71.9 12816 - 17 56.1 31.8 68.2 71.9 10718 - 19 34.3 20.4 47.2 50.0 10820 - 21 35.2 13.6 47.7 47.7 8822 - 23 14.5 7.2 44.6 45.8 8324 - 25 12.9 7.1 29.4 31.8 8526 - 27 3.3 3.3 29.7 29.7 9128 - 29 1.0 2.0 17.7 17.7 10230 - 31 5.6 3.7 21.3 22.2 10832 - 33 4.6 2.3 23.9 23.9 6834 - 35 3.3 2.2 21.1 21.1 90.TotalMedian 17.1 12.2 18.2 18.51895*Includes births occurring in the period 0-35 months prior to thesurvey.15