Abstract:
Despite growing evidence and international recommendations that support the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, few mothers adhere to it and the percentage of its practice is still suboptimal. This study assessed knowledge, attitudes and practices of exclusive breastfeeding in the Kingdom of Bahrain among mothers of children aging 0 - 5 years as well as another sample that represents various sectors of the community in Bahrain. A cross-sectional study using an online self-administered questionnaire was conducted via a mobile instant messaging application. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23.0 and presented using descriptive statistics. Correlations were looked for between exclusive breastfeeding practice against several predicting factors such as knowledge level, attitude and selected demographic characteristics. The recruited sample size was 988, out of which females represented 82%. Out of the female sample, mothers represented 80.9%, and 71.5% of them had children that were 5 years old and younger at the time of conducting the study. Overall, female respondents had good general knowledge of breastfeeding, while their exclusive breastfeeding knowledge level was low. Generally, mothers and community showed positive attitudes towards breastfeeding and its practice. According to the findings, 86.8% of mothers in the study reported practicing breastfeeding, out of which 35.3% practiced exclusive breastfeeding. Also, 46.3% reported introducing complementary food at 6 months of age. Significant associations were found between practicing exclusive breastfeeding against education level, income and employment. Significant correlations were found between different breastfeeding practices (exclusive breastfeeding and mixed feeding) and most of the potential predictors (e.g. mother’s attitude). Although the 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rate in Bahrain had increased, yet it is considerably below the international target rate of exclusive breastfeeding of at least 60%. Intervention awareness programs that focus on knowledge, attitudes, and misperceptions related to exclusive breastfeeding combined with a well designed cohort study may improve exclusive breastfeeding rate and promote adherence to the World Health Organization breastfeeding guidelines.