Abstract

Back ground Breastfeeding is an important public health strategy for improving infant and child morbidity and mortality improving maternal morbidity and helping to control health care costs The World Health Organization WHO and United Nations Children s Fund UNICEF recommend that every infant should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life with breastfeeding continuing for up to two years of age or longer The aim of this study to assess knowledge and practice of mothers and identify associated factors towards exclusive breastfeeding Methods A community based cross-sectional study was employed Sample size was determined by using single population proportion formula and four hundred three lactating mothers who have breastfed for 6 months and up to two years was selected by Simple random sampling technique All explanatory variables that were associated with the outcome variable during bivariate analysis were included in the final logistic model A multivariate logistic regression analysis was made to identify the predictors of maternal knowledge about exclusive breastfeeding practices