Abstract

Tilahun Ermeko Wanamo

Background: Breast feeding is natural resource needless energy for preparation. It costs no money; provide holistic nutritional values for infants and it is free of microbes .Exclusive breast feeding are effective for the prevention of childhood morbidity and mortality. Its practice for the first Six months could avert (3-15%) of infant mortality. In Ethiopia, the prevalence of Exclusive breast feeding is majorly affected by the knowledge and attitude of mothers.

Methodology: A community based cross sectional study design was conducted from April 8-14/2013 in Ginnir town. A total of 348 mothers were selected by using systematic random sampling. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.

Result: A total of 348 mothers during collection period were interviewed. The response rate was 98.9%. The prevalence of EBF practice in the study area was 62.89 %. Three fourths of the study participants have positive attitude toward EBF. About 76% of mothers had sufficient Knowledge regarding use of exclusive breast feeding.

Conclusion and recommendations: This study has low Practice of breast feeding when compared to other study findings. It also indicated that knowledge and attitude were the predictors for exclusive breast feeding of children. Therefore, the health extension workers and other health professionals should conduct behavioral change communication with women for child bearing age mothers.