Assessment of Exclusive Breastfeeding Practice and Associated Factors among Mothers in West Shoa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends mothers worldwide to exclusively breastfeed infants for the child's first six months to achieve optimal growth, development, and health. Even though appropriate feeding practice is the most cost-effective intervention to reduce child morbidity and mortality, exclusive breastfeeding practices in developing countries are still low.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess exclusive breastfeeding practice and associated factors among mothers in West Shoa zone.

Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted from May to December 2018 in the West Shoa zone, Ethiopia, among 710 mothers with 6-9-month-old infants. The multistage stage sampling technique was employed. A pretested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Epi Info version 7.1.2.0 was used to enter the data, and we transferred to SPSS version 25 for analysis. The association between factors and the exclusive breastfeeding were analyzed with bivariate and multivariate logistic regression.

Result: A total of 710 women were included with a response rate of 97.9%. The prevalence of unintended pregnancy was 38.7%, and only 65.35% of the respondents reported that they have exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their infant's life. Marital status (AOR 2.467 (1.333-4.564)), ANC visit (AOR 2.562 (1.250-5.252)), pregnancy intentionality (AOR 4.727 (3.217-6.945)), postnatal care clinic attendance (AOR 3.373 (2.293-4.963)), and counseling on exclusive breastfeeding AOR 2.544 (1.239-5.225) were the factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding. Exclusive breastfeeding practice is still low and actions need to be taken like educating the community about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding using every accessible media. Maternal health service centers should provide counseling and education for women about breastfeeding.