Recent evidence suggests that th ere is currently a trend away from breastfseding in developing countries, despite the large numbers of studies documenting its beneficial effects on child heal1;h. The prevalence of breast feeding in Jimma Town was found to be ~6,5 - percent in a cross sectional study of 975 methers, -The mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 4,4 months and the mean duration of over all breastfeeding was 15 months, -Forty three percent of methers gave food supplements for their children by the age of 4 w 6 months, Additionally, i t was found that 60 percent of the methers breast fed f or mere than 18 months, - Seventy eight percent of mothers started breast feeding immediatly after birth and the majority breast fed on dsma~d, Forty two percent of mothers gave milk and milk products as a supplement and 76.5 percent of them gave the milk with bott~e, Twenty five percent of mothers were of the opinion that mothers should exclusively breast feed children for 4 w 6 menths, -Seventy nine percent felt that mothers should optimally breast feed for 18 months or mere. Only Thirty six percent of methers considered breast feeding to be superior to bottle feeding for a child of 4 '- (3 months, A search for social and cultural determinants for the occurrances of extended breast feeding was conducted and it was found ou t that family income, educational 1avel of both the mother and her huSband to have a negative correlation with the length of breast feedi~g.