Exclusive breast feeding in Rusinga West Location, Kenya. Knowledge, attitude and challenges experienced by mothers with infants less than 6 months

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Health - Health system, grade: A, , course: Community Health and Development, language: English, abstract: This study aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude and identifying the challenges experienced during the practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers of infants less than 6 months in Rusinga West Location. This study had three specific objectives namely, to assess mother`s knowledge on exclusive breast feeding, to determine mother`s attitude towards exclusive breast feeding and to identify challenges faced by mother`s during exclusive breast feeding practice.

A descriptive cross-sectional study design was utilized. The study targeted mothers with infants less than six months of age in the location. Data was collected by administering structured questionnaires with closed and open ended questions to the targeted respondents. Data was entered into Microsoft Excel and analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented using tables and graph.

A total of 84 respondents participated and the study findings showed that majority of the respondents 98%, (n=82) had heard of exclusive breast feeding and knew what it mean. Half of the respondents, 50%, (n=42) said they had experience difficulties while breast feeding and half of the respondents 50%, (n=42) also said they have not experienced any difficulty while breast feeding. It is worth noting that majority of the respondents still face challenges such as baby refusal to breast feed, inadequate breast milk, breast tenderness, pain during breast feed and sore nipples.