Figure 1

Time of breastfeeding initiation after birth among respondents Six percent ( n = 12) of the children were not breastfed at all. According to the mothers, reasons for not offering breast milk to their children immediately after delivery included "the breast milk did not come out due to inverted nipples (n = 4)", "mother was suffering from sore nipples after childbirth (n = 2)", "child did not want to suck the nipples (n = 4)", and "mother was sick after childbirth (n = 2)". As a substitute for colostrum, mothers gave infant formula (n = 4), sugar water (n = 7) or sweet tea (n = 1) after childbirth. In addition to feeding breast milk substitutes, these mothers introduced complementary foods very early (≤ 1 month of age)