Herbal medicine use during breastfeeding: a cross-sectional study among mothers visiting public health facilities in the Western area of Sierra Leone

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

The use of medications, including herbal medicines during breastfeeding is always a concern among women. Currently, there is no published evidence on whether Sierra Leonean women use herbal medicine during breastfeeding. This study investigates the prevalence, correlates and pattern of herbal medicine use during breastfeeding.

Methodology

We conducted a cross-sectional study among 378 current breastfeeding mothers visiting public healthcare facilities within the Western area of Sierra Leone. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used for data analysis.

Results

Over a third of mothers ( n = 140, 37.0%) used herbal medicine during breastfeeding. However, very few herbal medicine users (2.1%, n = 3) used herbal medicine to augment breastfeeding. Dietary changes were the most common method used to increase breast milk supply (93.9%, n = 355) with cassava leaves sauce and tubers being the most common dietary addition. Mothers with children more than six months old were more likely to use herbal medicine than mothers with younger children (OR:1.8; CI:1.13–2.85, p = 0.013). Among herbal medicine users, only 11.4% ( n = 16) disclosed their herbal medicine use to their conventional healthcare providers.

Conclusion

The use of herbal medicine among breastfeeding mothers attending public health facilities in the Western area of Sierra Leone is common. Whilst this use is not usually specific to increasing breast milk supply, our study indicates that herbal medicines may be used to ‘cleanse’ initial breast milk.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12906-019-2479-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Related collections

Most cited references 56

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Observational research methods. Research design II: cohort, cross sectional, and case-control studies.

N Mann (2002)

Cohort, cross sectional, and case-control studies are collectively referred to as observational studies. Often these studies are the only practicable method of studying various problems, for example, studies of aetiology, instances where a randomised controlled trial might be unethical, or if the condition to be studied is rare. Cohort studies are used to study incidence, causes, and prognosis. Because they measure events in chronological order they can be used to distinguish between cause and effect. Cross sectional studies are used to determine prevalence. They are relatively quick and easy but do not permit distinction between cause and effect. Case controlled studies compare groups retrospectively. They seek to identify possible predictors of outcome and are useful for studying rare diseases or outcomes. They are often used to generate hypotheses that can then be studied via prospective cohort or other studies.

0 comments Cited 107 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Maternal perceptions of insufficient milk supply in breastfeeding.

Lisa R. Gatti (2008)

Improving the duration of exclusive breastfeeding is a national and international priority. Insufficient milk supply is one of the most commonly cited reasons for early cessation or decreased exclusivity in women who have initiated breastfeeding. This paper is an integrative review of current research pertaining to perceived insufficient milk (PIM). CINAHL, MEDLINE, and PubMed were searched combining "human milk" and "milk supply" and "perceived milk supply." Articles were limited to original research studies related to healthy, full-term breastfeeding dyads conducted over the past 10 years. Critical review indicated robust findings, limitations, and gaps in this body of literature. A lot of women discontinue breastfeeding during the first few weeks of the post-partum period because of PIM and approximately 35% of all women who wean early report PIM as the primary reason. Many women utilize infant satisfaction cues as their main indication of milk supply and many researchers, clinicians, and breast-feeding women do not evaluate actual milk supply. The relationships between PIM and socioeconomic or demographic variables as well as early breastfeeding behaviors have not been adequately addressed in the literature. Recommendations include improvement of maternal education about behaviors to ensure adequate supply, assessment of milk supply, and infant cues as well as further research into the root causes of PIM. Practitioners involved with maternal child health can improve their care of women and infants by understanding the subjective nature and questionable accuracy of PIM and changing assessment of milk supply.

0 comments Cited 89 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Attitude and use of herbal medicines among pregnant women in Nigeria

Titilayo O Fakeye, Rasaq Adisa, Ismail E Musa (2009)

Background The use of herbal medicines among pregnant women in Nigeria has not been widely studied. Methods Opinion of 595 pregnant women in three geopolitical zones in Nigeria on the use of herbal medicines, safety on usage, knowledge of potential effects of herbal remedies on the fetus and potential benefits or harms that may be derived from combining herbal remedies with conventional therapies were obtained using a structured questionnaire between September 2007 and March 2008. Descriptive statistics and Fisher's exact tests were used at 95% confidence level to evaluate the data obtained. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Results More than two-third of respondents [67.5%] had used herbal medicines in crude forms or as pharmaceutical prepackaged dosage forms, with 74.3% preferring self-prepared formulations. Almost 30% who were using herbal medicine at the time of the study believed that the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy is safe. Respondents' reasons for taking herbal medications were varied and included reasons such as herbs having better efficacy than conventional medicines [22.4%], herbs being natural, are safer to use during pregnancy than conventional medicines [21.1%], low efficacy of conventional medicines [19.7%], easier access to herbal medicines [11.2%], traditional and cultural belief in herbal medicines to cure many illnesses [12.5%], and comparatively low cost of herbal medicines [5.9%]. Over half the respondents, 56.6% did not support combining herbal medicines with conventional drugs to forestall drug-herb interaction. About 33.4% respondents believed herbal medicines possess no adverse effects while 181 [30.4%] were of the opinion that adverse/side effects of some herbal medicines could be dangerous. Marital status, geopolitical zones, and educational qualification of respondents had statistically significant effects on respondents views on side effects of herbal medicines [p < 0.05)] while only geopolitical zones and educational qualifications seemed to have influence on respondents' opinion on the harmful effects of herbal medicines to the fetus [p < 0.05]. Conclusion The study emphasized the wide spread use of herbal medicines by pregnant women in Nigeria highlighting an urgent need for health care practitioners and other health care givers to be aware of this practice and make efforts in obtaining information about herb use during ante-natal care. This will help forestall possible interaction between herbal and conventional medicines.

0 comments Cited 74 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Peter Bai James:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6373-5704

Peter.B.James@student.uts.edu.au

Angela Isata Kaikai: angellakaikai2004@yahoo.com

Abdulai Jawo Bah: abdulaijawobah@yahoo.com

Amie Steel: Amie.Steel@endeavour.edu.au

Jon Wardle: Jon.Wardle@uts.edu.au

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Complement Altern Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Complement Altern Med

Title: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6882

Publication date (Electronic): 15 March 2019

Publication date PMC-release: 15 March 2019

Publication date Collection: 2019

Volume: 19

Electronic Location Identifier: 66

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0004 1936 7611, GRID grid.117476.2, Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, , University of Technology Sydney, ; Ultimo, Sydney, NSW 2007 Australia

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2290 9707, GRID grid.442296.f, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, , University of Sierra Leone, ; Freetown, Sierra Leone

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2290 9707, GRID grid.442296.f, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, , University of Sierra Leone, ; Freetown, Sierra Leone

[4 ]ISNI 0000 0000 9962 2299, GRID grid.459858.d, Endeavour College of Natural Health, ; 269 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006 Australia

Author information

Peter Bai James http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6373-5704

Article

Publisher ID: 2479

DOI: 10.1186/s12906-019-2479-7

PMC ID: 6420723

PubMed ID: 30876454

SO-VID: 13770468-2a5d-4863-b688-efc41a818d25

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.