Knowledge and practices of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers in rural areas of Rajshahi district in Bangladesh: A community clinic based study

BACKGROUND: World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is the best nutrition for the neonate. Still, it remains a big challenge to establish EBF not only in Bangladesh but also in any developing countries. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the level of knowledge and practices on EBF and its relationship between different socioeconomic and demographic factors among mothers having at least one child of aged 6–12 months in the rural area of Rajshahi District, Bangladesh. METHODOLOGY: A community clinic (CC) based study has been conducted by using semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 513 mothers having at least one child aged 6–12 months from 32 different CC in the rural area of Rajshahi District, Bangladesh during September to December 2015. A composite index, chi-square test, and logistic regression model were utilized in this study. RESULTS: The prevalence of knowledge and practices on EBF were 34.5% and 27.9% among mothers having at least one child aged 6–12 months. From the analyses, mothers age of ≥21 years were (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 13.840, 95% CI: 7.394–25.904; p<0.001) times more likely to have knowledge on EBF and (AOR = 0.084, 95% CI: 0.050–0.143; p<0.05) times less likely to have practices of EBF compared to mother’s age ≤20 years. Service holders mothers were (AOR = 9.992, 95% CI: 4.485–22.260, p<0.05) times more likely to have practices than that of house wife. Home delivery mothers was (AOR = 0.208, 95% CI: 0.111–0.389; p<0.05) times less likely to have practices of EBF than that of the hospital delivery mothers. Those mothers monthly family income ≥10,000 Bangladeshi taka (BDT) currency was (AOR = 0.092, 95% CI: 0.050–0.168, p<0.05) times less likely to have practices of EBF compared to their counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: This study was found poor knowledge and practices on EBF. This study suggested that education and EBF related intervention could play an important role to increase good knowledge and practices on EBF among mothers. Malnutrition will be decreased if EBF was widely established in Bangladesh.