Knowledge, Attitude And Practice Of Exclusive Breast Feeding Among Nursing Mothers In Aba South Local Government Area Of Abia State

 ABSTRACT

This project examined Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of exclusive breastfeeding among nursing mothers In Aba South Local Government Area of Abia State. A sample size of 348 was calculated. The technique for analyzing the data collected for this research was descriptive statistics using frequency and percentage. The result of the analysis showed that less than half (38.2%) of the respondents were between the age of 32-40 years. Over half (61.8%) had up to tertiary education. The study showed good nutrition knowledge scores with the cumulative percentage of (71.2%) and 28.8% low nutrition knowledge. The result showed that 63.2% of the respondent initiated breastfeeding between 1-24 hours after delivery. Over half (64.4%) of the respondents knew about EBF through Ante-natal clinics/hospital. Few (34.5%) of the respondents were of the opinion that the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for babies is that he/she grows healthily. Over half (60.1%) of the respondents said that the nursing mothers do not need to empty one breast before giving the other. this work therefore concludes that Exclusive breast feeding (EBF) has important protective effects on the survival of infants, but mother do not practice EBF due to inadequate time to breastfeed baby because of work load.  This study recommends increased awareness on the use of water in a jar to store extracted breast milk for a longer time if there is no electricity supply as a coping strategy when mothers are not available to breast feed babies.