Knowledge and Attitude Towards Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Lactating Mothers, Balancing Feeding and their Effect on Children’s Health Status in District Area, Western Kordofan: Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Breastfeeding is important to infant health and survival in Sudan. Exclusive breastfeeding is considered an important criterion when practicing child nutrition, as infants consume only breast milk deprived of introducing any additional food or drink, not even water, and the child continues in this state for six months after birth. To effectively implement and promote breastfeeding in communities, it is necessary to understand the social and demographic factors relevant to infant feeding choices. This study examined cognitive trends regarding breastfeeding in a sample of mothers from the West Kordofan community. Methodology: About 576 housewives participated in descriptive cross-sectional study of children aged 59-60 months. The chosen structured questionnaire was used as the data collection method. The likelihood ratio with a confidence rate of 95% was also used to measure the strength of the association, and the statistical significance was determined at P-value <0:05. Result: The study showed that most of the responding mothers are aware of absolute breastfeeding. Nearly (80%) of the mothers are aware that breast milk alone is sufficient in the first six months. The research also explained that more than half of the study population (55%) have poor general knowledge, while (45%) of them have good knowledge. The analysis showed that the information of respondents from the study population has a significant relationship with the occurrence of diarrhea cases, vitamin A intake, and low birth weight. The analysis also shows the possibility of lower rates of diarrhea in children whose mothers have excellent knowledge of food and nutritional practices. [(95% CI: 0.492-0.874) p-v=0.004)]. Conclusion: Housewives' knowledge of breastfeeding has a significant relationship with the health status of children. Mothers' prior knowledge of vitamin A and its benefits contributed clearly and logically to eating foods rich in vitamins. p-v=0.000].