Knowledge and Attitude towards Exclusive Breast Feeding among Mothers Attending Antenatal and Immunization Clinic at Dabat Health Center, Northwest Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Institution Based Study

INTRODUCTION: To assess knowledge and attitude towards exclusive breast feeding among mothers attending antenatal care and immunization clinic in Dabat Health Center, Northwest Ethiopia, 2016. METHODOLOGY: Institutional based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. The data was collected by using pretested, structured interview based questionnaires. The data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULT: A total of 384 participants were included in the study with a response rate of 100%. The majority were in the age groups of 20–30 (66.9%) and the mean age was 27.65; 325 (84.6%) were Orthodox Christianity followers. Majority were of Amhara ethnicity 370 (96.4%). Based on knowledge score, 268 (69.8%) were grouped as having good knowledge and regarding attitudinal score, 92 (24%) of the study participants were categorized as having negative attitude towards exclusive breast feeding (EBF) and the remaining 292 (76%) were categorized as having positive attitude. CONCLUSION: In this study, the knowledge of study participant mothers towards EBF is low which is less than three-fourths; however positive attitude towards EBF is more than three-fourths in this study. The authors recommend that health care workers who work in the areas of maternal and child health clinic should give appropriate information about EBF.