KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING AMONG NURSING MOTHERS ATTENDING POSTNATAL CLINIC AT ANAMBRA STATE.

Background: Good nutrition is the corner stone for survival, health and development of infants. Objective: The cross-sectional study assessed knowledge and practices of exclusive breastfeeding among nursing mothers in two Local Government Areas of Anambra State, Nigeria. Methods: A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information from 249 nursing mothers on their personal and socio-economic data as well as their knowledge and practices of exclusive breastfeeding. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data collected while chi-square was used to associate personal and socio-economic variables with knowledge scores on exclusive breastfeeding. Results: The result showed that 65.9% of the mothers were between the ages of 26-33years, 83.5% attended tertiary institutions and 20.1% were civil servants. However, 28.1% of them earned #54000 and above. Majority (73.1%) had good knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding, hence 89.2% got the definition of exclusive breastfeeding. A little above half (50.6%) of the mothers knew that breast milk should be given to babies immediately after delivery. Greater proportion (79.5%) knew why mothers should be encouraged to practice exclusive breastfeeding. More than half (61.0%) of the mothers gave their babies colostrum. Only (41.0%) of the mothers fed their babies on demand while 43.0% fed their babies more than 6 times a day. Slightly below half (43.8% and 46.2%) introduced infant formula to their babies from 0-3months and 4-6 months, respectively. There were significant (P<0.05) positive associations between all the personal/ socio-economic characteristics and knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding by the women. Conclusion: This shows that enhanced education and economic opportunities afford women the right knowledge towards nutrition of their children.