Bottle-feeding Practice and its Associated Factors among Mothers of Children Aged 0 to 23 Months in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Multi-level Analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys (2015–2022)

Avoidance of bottle feeding is recommended as it interferes with optimal suckling behavior, is difficult to keep clean, and is an important route for the transmission of pathogens. This study aimed to and assess the pooled prevalence and associated factors of bottle feeding among mothers of children aged 0 to 23 months. Data from the demographic and health surveys of 20 countries were used. A total of 86,619 mother-child pairs was included. Multilevel logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with the outcome variable. Variables with a p-value <0.05 were declared statistically significant. The prevalence of bottle feeding among mothers of children aged 0 to 23 months was 13.74%. Maternal age, educational status, marital status, maternal occupation, media exposure, wealth index, family size, place of delivery, mode of delivery, counseling on breastfeeding, age of the child, and residence were significant factors. The prevalence of bottle feeding among mothers of children aged 0 to 23 months was relatively low. Breastfeeding promotion programs are advised to target mothers who are older, educated, working, rich, gave birth at home, are delivered by cesarean section, and reside in urban areas to achieve a significant decrease in bottle feeding rates. Keywords: bottle feeding, young children, sub-Saharan Africa, DHS, multi-level analysis