Factors Associated with Breast Milk Donation and Use of Donor Human Milk Among Postpartum Women at the Pumwani Maternity Hospital Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization advocates donor human milk as a superior substitute for newborns unable to obtain mother’s milk. Calls have been made for the scale- up of human milk banks to provide infants without access to mother’s milk safe donor human milk. Broad Objective: To assess factors associated with breast milk donation and use among postpartum women at a city hospital with human milk banking facilities. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The study population were postpartum women receiving care at the Pumwani maternity hospital. Consecutive sampling technique was used to recruit 370 mothers. Data was collected using a pre-tested interview-based questionnaire. Data was analyzed using R-4.3.0 software and descriptive statistics were done for all variables. Further inferential statistics including Chi-Square test and multivariate logistics regression were computed with significance level set at α=0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 27 years (±6.3). A majority (78.6%) of the women were married and slightly above half (57%) had attained secondary school education. Only 27.3% were aware of human milk banking. The respondent's age had a significant association with willingness to donate breast milk OR =0.423[(95% CI 0.19, 0.942) p=0.0351]. Older mothers were less willing to donate compared to younger mothers. Awareness of human milk banking was significantly associated with willingness to use donated breast milk OR=0.894[(95% CI 1.066, 3.364) p=0.0294]. Respondents who were aware of human milk banking were less willing to use DHM compared to those who were unfamiliar with the practice. Conclusion: Human milk banking awareness was low among the study population; however, mothers are willing to donate breast milk and use donated milk to feed their infants. Recommendation: Maternal and child health programmes should educate mothers on human milk banking and the advantages of donor human milk to attract donor mothers and potential recipients.