Abstract:

The purpose of the study was to investigate the perception and practice of exclusive breast feeding among mothers attending infant welfare clinic in Secondary Health Facility in Southern Nigeria. The research design was descriptive survey. The sample size was three hundred (300) mothers. The instrument for data collection was a validated questionnaire with reliability coefficient of 0.80. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics. Hypothesis was tested using a Chi-square test analysis, major findings showed that majority of the respondents had high knowledge 178 (59.3%). The overall practice was highly adequate with grand mean of 3.03. There was a significant association between level of knowledge and practice of exclusive breastfeeding with minimum expected count of 14.08 with 3 degrees of freedom. Based on the findings it was recommended that intensive awareness creation on benefits of exclusive breast feeding should be carried out for mothers during ante natal period.