Assessment of exclusive breastfeeding knowledge and practices among post-natal mothers attending Ashaiman Polyclinic in the greater Accra region of Ghana

Abstract

It is expected that every country promotes, protects and supports breastfeeding program for infants and the mother’s health (WHO 1990). This study was designed to assess the knowledge and the extent to which breastfeeding was practiced among postnatal mothers who accessed Ashaiman Polyclinic in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The study utilized a survey as a research design by employing structured questionnaire as data collection technique. A sample size of 422 breastfeeding mothers whose children were less than two years old was used for the study. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 21). The results were presented in frequency, percentages and inferences were made using a paired sample test. The significant values were computed to check for the relationship between the participants’ knowledge and the practice of exclusive breastfeeding and the P-value was set at 0.05.The exclusive breastfeeding rate according to WHOs recommendation was found to be 71%. Although there were considerably variations in the exclusive breastfeeding duration, the mothers generally had good knowledge (98%) and practices (96%) regarding exclusive breastfeeding.