Mothers' knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices concerning exclusive breastfeeding in Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract

Breastfeeding is an important resource which includes exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). It provides food, health and care simultaneously. Therefore a descriptive survey was carried out to assess knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices as related to EBF. The study population consisted of all mothers of child bearing ages (15-49 years) who had children from (0-2 years). Simple random sampling was used in selecting ten villages out of twenty-three and single-stage cluster sampling was used to select three hundred (300) respondents for the study. A questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests. The results revealed that the majority of the respondents 240 (80.0%) were aware of EBF; 162 (54.0%) were knowledgeable about EBF while 180 (60.0%) practised EBF. It was concluded that women in the Ikot Omin community, in Nigeria practised EBF and the recommendations focused on the fact that health workers should continue to encourage mothers to breastfeed exclusively.