Habtamu Gebresenbet
Appropriate feeding practices are fundamental importance for the survival, growth, development and health of infant and young children. However; exclusive breast feeding remains a challenge because of many factors. It was suggested that mother’s knowledge, attitude and practice determines the effectiveness of exclusive breast feeding. This research is a cross sectional study aimed to assesses mother’s knowledge, attitude and practice towards optimal breast feeding among Ginjo Guduru kebele. The survey was conducted from June 29-July30, 2018 from total of 315 mothers who had children under one year age, 190 mothers were selected using simple random sampling. Structured pre-tested questionnaires as well as in depth interview was used to collect the data on the socio economic, demographic characteristics, knowledge attitude and practice towards exclusive breast feeding. Among mothers studied about 73.94% had good knowledge of effective breast feeding, 63.99% of mothers had positive attitude on effective breast feeding and 69.69% had good practice of effective breast feeding. About 24.06% of mothers had poor knowledge of effective breast feeding, about 36.11% of mothers had poor level of attitude on effective breast feeding and about 31.31% of mothers had poor practice of effective breast feeding. Health service delivery staffs Policy makers, administrators and Non-governmental organization collaborates to draw strategies to enhance the awareness of mothers about effective breast feeding.
