ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF PROPER CHILD FEEDING AMONG LACTATING MOTHERS LIVING IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA, 2018

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Nutrition is an important part of child growth and development. Malnutrition still takes the lead in child mortality and morbidity. There is extensive evidence of short-term and long-term health benefits of optimal infant and young child feeding. In addition to specific health advantages for infants and mothers, proper child feeding also benefits the society by reducing health care cost, parental employee absenteeism and associated loss of family income. After birth, the health of the baby depends upon the nurturing practice adopted by the family. Thus, the aim of the study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers (caregivers) on infant and young child feeding in Semit, Bole sub-city, Woreda 10 of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: In this study, a cross-sectional study design was used by taking a total sample size of 307. Convenience sampling method was applied to select individual respondents. Different statistical analyses were implemented including frequencies of variables, descriptive statistics and determination of statistical significance using the chi-square test. This was done using IBM SPSS for Window 21.0. Result: the study enrolled 307 mothers. Despite 74.6% had known that breastfeeding should be initiated within one hour only 64.8% initiated within one hour. Regarding exclusive breastfeeding 91.2% knew that infant should be exclusively breastfeed for 6months but only 62.5% exclusively breastfeed for 6 months. 93.2% knew that complimentary feeding should be started at 6 months and 80.8% introduced complementary feeding at 6 months. Though 87% of the participant mothers knew that breastfeeding should be continued for two years, only 73.3% continued breastfeeding. Regarding attitude majority have agreed that first milk is nutritious and also that breast protect their infants from illness. Conclusion and recommendation: mother nutritional knowledge score is much more compared to practical score. There are still misconceptions among mothers and the society affecting mothers practice on exclusive breastfeeding and continuation of breastfeeding up to the age of two years. It is recommended, health institutions, mass communication, and media should work together in nutritional education to achieve on proper exclusive and complementary feeding habits by most of the mothers. Keywords: Mothers’ knowledge, attitude and practice, proper child feeding.