Publications

Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of age by the World HealthOrganization. Mothers’ good knowledge and positive attitude play key roles in the processof exclusive breastfeeding practices. This study aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitudeand practices towards exclusive breastfeeding among mothers with infants attending theimmunization clinic at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital. The study was conducted using adescriptive cross-sectional design. Questionnaires were used to collect data and aquantitative research approach was employed. The study revealed that most of therespondents 124(39.1%) were in their late twenties ranging from 25-29 years, nearly half ofthem (43.5%) were married, and most of them 32.2% were housewives with infants in the agebracket of 4-6 months (28.4%) On the assessment of the knowledge, the majority of 82% ofmothers knew some information on EBF, only 28.5% knew the correct meaning of EBF, 74.1%had ever had EBF counselling and most of them (47.6%) were unaware of the recommendedduration of EBF. With regards to attitude majority, 56.8% of the mothers wanted to exclusivelybreastfeed their babies until six months and 32% of them strongly agreed that it wasimportant to give the baby some water, honey and other solid foods during the first sixmonths after birth. Majority of the respondents 72% initiated breastfeeding within the firsthour of birth, but only 13.2% exclusively breastfed for six months. Exclusive breastfeedingattitude was good but knowledge and practices were poor. Only 28.5% of the respondentswere able to correctly define EBF and 13.2% exclusively breastfed until six months.Exclusively breastfeeding in my study was suboptimal, compared to the current MoHrecommendations. Therefore, there is a need to put in place strategies that target improvingmaternal knowledge, attitude and practices towards EBF.