Author Name
IORKOSU Samuel Tyover, Sadiq Abubakar MOHAMMED, ORJI Esther Ukwuoma, ATTAH Chinyere M and Lohodedoo Jotham NOMNOR
Abstract
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is an important public health strategy for improving children’s and mother’s health by reducing child morbidity and mortality as well as helping to reduce
healthcare costs. It is considered by health experts as one of the major strategies which help the most widely known and effective intervention for preventing early childhood deaths. It is against
this background that this study was set to find out how knowledgeable the nursing mother are on the practices with corresponding attitude towards exclusive breast feeding. The cross sectional
design was used with the aid of structured questionnaire to elicit information from the target population. A total of 457nursing mothers were purposively sampled and distributed with the
structured questionnaire across the three senatorial districts in the state, out of which only 400 questionnaires were returned. Using SPSS package as a statistical tool for analysis, descriptive
statistics and One Sample t-test statistics were used to analyse the data. The responses from qualitative data via the use of focus group discussion (FCD) were also analysed using
ethnographic method. Deductively, it was found that there was relatively fair knowledge toward exclusive breast feeding, despite been knowledgeable, it was found that nursing mothers have
negative attitude toward the practice of exclusive breast feeding. Majority of the nursing women saw no need of practicing EBF. The study also found that there were significantly differences in
the use of exclusive breastfeeding among the nursing mothers. That is the old nursing women practice EBF than the young nursing mothers. Base on this, the study therefore recommends
among others that there is need to intensify the awareness campaign toward the practice of EBF for a more healthy living of the babies that could go a long way in reducing the cost expenditure
on healthcare service. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Exclusive Breast feeding, Nursing mothers,
Published On :
2023-08-12
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