Knowledge, attitudes and practices towards breast feeding among mothers attending underfive clinic at chipokota mayamba urban clinic in Ndola , Zambia

Abstract

Background: Exclusive breast feeding (EBF) is the best nutrition for babies during the first six months of life, thus it is an unrivaled practice of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants. However, providing EBF remains a major challenge in Africa and many other countries worldwide despite implementation of programmes such as the global initiative to increase political commitment and investment towards breastfeeding by WHO and UNICEF. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices towards EBF among mothers attending under-five clinic at Chipokota Mayamba Clinic in Chifubu, in Ndola Zambia.Method: A cross-section study was conducted in which 400 mothers where recruited using a simple random sampling method. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to the respondents as a data collection tool. Data was first entered in Microsoft® Excel database for storage and was later exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 for analysis. Results: Forty-seven percent (47%) were knowledgeable about the benefits of EBF and fifty three percent (53%) lacked knowledge on EBF. Majority of the respondents were between twenty to twenty nine (20-29) years of age representing fifty eight percent (58%) of the participants while those thirty to thirty nine (30- 39) years of age had fifteen percent (15%) distribution. Those above forty (40) years represented two percent (2%) and twenty five percent (25%) were less than twenty (20) years of age. Fifty-one percent (51%) of the mothers weaned their babies between three to six (3-6) months, thirty three percent (33%) between six and twelve (6-12) months old and lastly sixteen percent (16%) between zero to three (0-3) months of age of the babies. Conclusion: The results from this study indicate that the level of total knowledge score regarding breastfeeding is poor among mothers attending under-five clinic at Chipokota Mayamba clinic. Major concerns are; inadequate knowledge on advantages of breastfeeding, frequency of breastfeeding, and storage of breast milk. The findings showed that limited education was a major factor for lack of knowledge about breastfeeding compared with other factors such as marital status, family income, and age.