ABSTRACT

This cross sectional study was conducted among 243 mothers attending antenatal and post natal care at Primary health care center situated at Umuahia metropolis. The aim was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of exclusive breastfeeding among nursing mothers. Majority of respondents (80.1%) were between the ages of 21-40 years. 90.5% were married, the total population surveyed are all Christians. Majority (49.3%) of the respondents attained tertiary level of education, while very few (1.2%) stopped at primary school. Almost all the mothers (95.1%) knew the definition of exclusive breastfeeding which may be attributed to health talks being given by health facilitators at antenatal clinics. High percentage of respondents (89.3%) had a good knowledge about the introduction of colostrums to the baby immediately after birth. 81.5% knew that the duration of exclusive breast feeding should be six months. Lesser percentage of the respondents (37%) had sufficient knowledge that exclusive breastfeeding prevents postpartum fertility. Majority (75.7%) of respondents had an average knowledge, while few (18.9%) respondents had good knowledge. 8.2% of mothers agreed that exclusive breast feeding are for poor mothers, 9.1% of the respondents had a positive attitude that babies should not be given water when the weather is too hot. Majority of the respondents (54.3%) agreed that only milk can support child’s growth for six months. Thus the attitude score of the respondents showed that very few (1.24%) had a negative attitude, 51.87% of the mothers had an undecided attitude, and 46.89% of the mothers had a positive attitude towards exclusive breast feeding. 62.1% mothers introduced breast milk immediately after birth, 26.3% introduced breast milk the next day the reason being that there was no flow down of milk from the breast as at that point. And because of that, 38.7% respondents introduced water and glucose first before breast milk. 50.4% of the mothers practiced exclusive breast feeding for six months, while 62.1% did not practice EBF. Among the respondents, 3.3% of the respondents give other food in addition to breast milk to their babies during the first six months of life this is because many of them are civil servant and traders and they spend most of their times in their work place.