Breastfeeding practices and social norms in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo: A qualitative study.

In Kinshasa, mothers have a good knowledge of breastfeeding. However, few practise exclusive breastfeeding. Social pressure plays an important role in the cessation of exclusive breastfeeding before six months. In order to improve the practice of exclusive breastfeeding in this context, social and behaviour change programmes should target the entire population rather than mothers only.