Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practice and associated factors among mothers having infants less than 6 months old, in Bahir Dar, Northwest, Ethiopia: a community based cross sectional study, 2017

BACKGROUND: Breast milk provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first 6 months of life. Suboptimal breastfeeding especially lacks exclusive breastfeeding increase risk of severe acute malnutrition by 3.2-fold and major contributory factor for infant child mortality. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practice and associated factors among mothers having infants less than 6 months old in Bahir Dar city, Northwest, Ethiopia, 2017. RESULT: The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practice 1 day before the survey was 86.4%. Mothers who; have young infant aged 0-1 month old [AOR = 5.702 (1.747, 18.613)], house wife [AOR = 2.995 (1.557, 5.690)] and are not influenced by culture [AOR = 11 (3.449, 35.165)] were more likely to practice exclusive breastfeeding than their counterparts.