ABSTRACT

The best nutrition for babies is breast milk. It contains antibodies and more than 100 kinds of high-quality nutrients that are useful for the infant’s growth and development. Initial random data from one private hospital in west Indonesia found that there were 28 from 35 babies were not given breastfeeding exclusively for several reasons such as mother were not well known about the breastfeeding content and the consideration that milk formula was as good as breastmilk. The study was conducted to explore the correlation between mothers’ knowledge with exclusive breastfeeding practice. A quantitative correlational method with cross-sectional approach was conducted. 150 mothers from the outpatient and inpatient department were involved using accidental sampling technique. Chi-square analysis found that there was a significant correlation between the mother’s knowledge and exclusive breastfeeding practice (p=0.011). Furthermore, the study found that mothers who have low knowledge have 2,556 times the opportunity to carry out exclusive breastfeeding. Exclusively breastfeeding practice education is important to convey for mothers not only when the prenatal period but also in the postnatal period and continues until the second year of childbirth. Researchers are encouraged for adding husband’s support and social culture aspects in demographic data for further study.

Keywords: exclusive breastfeeding; knowledge; mother.