breastfeeding in neonatal intensive care unit of casablanca teaching hospital ibn rochd

Background: in morocco, the breastfeeding (exclusive) prevalence has decreased from 51% in 1992 to 35% in 2018. this prevalence was lower in neonatal intensive care units with 12.4% in 2014. this study aimed to estimate the prevalence and identify the associated factors of breastfeeding (bf) practice in the nicu of casablanca ibn rochd teaching hospital.method: a cross-sectional study was performed between 04 january and 26 june 2021 in nicu. moroccan mother/newborn couples were consecutively recruited after meeting the study inclusion criteria. we used face-to-face interviews using a pretested questionnaire. our income variable was the proportion of mothers who exclusively or partially breastfed at least one time after admission, categorized by yes and no. multiple binary logistic regression was used to test the association of income variable with predictors.results: we included 170 mother/newborn couples. around 74% of mothers practiced partial breastfeeding. the mother factors associated with bf practice were educational level (or=0,10; 95% ci : 0,01-0,87 ;p=0,037781), family monthly income (or=4,3 ; 95% ci: 1,12-16 , 56 ; p=0,033606), and marital status (or=14,3 ; 95%ci:1,37-148,43 ; p=0,025853). the newborns’ factors associated to bf practice were hospital stay length (or= 1, 12 95%ci: 1, 00-1, 25; p=0.047726), and hospitalization motif (or=0.27; 95% ci: 0,076-0.95; p=0.042085). and healthcare facility factors associated to bf practice included healthcare staff support (or=6, 7; 95% ci: 2, 2-20, 54; p=0.000891).conclusion: the newborns hospitalized for respiratory distress from single mothers with lower educational levels and social standards who did not have enough (or any) support from healthcare staff were the ones who received less breast milk in the nicu of casablanca ibn rochd teaching hospital.