ASSESSING THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING IN THE NKWANTA SOUTH MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

Background: Breast milk is the ideal nutrition for infants and therefore the practice of exclusive feeding must be encouraged.The main objective of the study was to determine the knowledge level of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers with children aged 0-6 months, in the Nkwanta South Municipality of the Oti Region; Ghana, and offer recommendations. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using random purposeful sampling method. Data on maternal knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding. We analysed the data using SPSS (version 26, Chicago). Fisher’s exact test was used to compare variables. A p-value of 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: The great majority (95.0%), of mothers have heard of exclusive breast feeding (p< 0.0001). Health facilities were the common (82.0%) sources of information on exclusive breastfeeding (P <0.0001). Approximately, 99.0% of the mother had planned to exclusively breastfeed their babies (P < 0.0001). The great majority (92.5%) of the mothers did not give any prelacteal feeds to their babies (P< 0.0001). There were positive associations between routes of delivery and time of initiation of breastfeeding (P< 0.0001), maternal age and knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding (P<0.0001). However, no significant positive associations between exclusive breastfeeding and level of maternal education (P = 0.145), and occupation (P=0.08). Conclusion: There was high awareness level on exclusive breastfeeding by mothers in the Nkwanta south municipality. The mothers have positive attitude and practice towards exclusive breastfeeding. There is the need to intensify education on exclusive breast feeding at all levels in the country.