Abstract

Background: breastfeeding is considered to be beneficial for both babies and mothers. Objective: this study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude of breastfeeding among women in Al-Madina Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia. Methods: this was an analyticalcross-sectional study and it was carried out in Al- Madina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the year 2017. Data were collected by electronic self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Results: data were collected from 388 female. The majority of the respondents were above 36 years old (48.2%). More than half of our respondents 225 (58.0%) were unemployed and 277 (71.4%) had a college-level education or higher. 138 (35.6%) of the women were exclusively feeding their baby by breastfeeding, while the majority of the respondents 220 (56.7%) chose a mix of both breast and formula feeding. The percentage of women who received hospital education regarding breastfeeding was equal to the women who had not received the hospital education 194 (50.0%). 175 (45.1%) of the respondents reported that health problem is the most reason that preventing them from breastfeeding their babies. Mothers believed that breastfeeding helped them by preventing breast and ovarian cancer 308 (79.4%) and the majority of the respondents 334 (86.1%) believed that breastfeeding improved the immunity and protect from different illness. Conclusion: in spite of the low percentage of exclusive breastfeeding, all the mothers were certain about the importance of breastfeeding to them and to their babies. There is a significant opportunity to improve awareness among women regarding the importance of exclusive breastfeeding.

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