Wole, Darge ( Professor)Shewa, Getnet2018-08-062023-11-182018-08-062023-11-182015-07http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/11003The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of military mothers in the Ministry of Defence regarding breastfeeding. Data were collected from 268 randomly selected sample from seven purposively selected units. The sample consisted of military mothers who gave birth in the last five years. The mean age of the respondents was 33.9 years. All data were collected through structured and pretested questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and binary logistic regression were employed to the quantitative data. These statistics were processed by using SPSS-version 20, with 95% level of confidence. Results revealed that most military mothers (73.1%) have good overall breastfeeding knowledge. They have also a positive overall attitudes towards breastfeeding (M=4.24 / 5.00). Around 67.8% of the respondents practiced breastfeeding. From those activities of breastfeeding, practice of exclusive breastfeeding and weaning at appropriate time were observed only by 35.1% and 45.3% of the respondents respectively. Respondents whose educational levels were diploma and degree indicated better breastfeeding knowledge than respondents whose educational levels were ≤ grade 12(mean difference=-.1596 and -.225). Those respondents who had four children also indicated better breastfeeding knowledge than respondents who had only one child (mean difference=-.187). However, attitudes did not show significant differences (P>.05) regarding the respondents’ age, rank, educational level and number of children. Military rank had contributions to the respondents’ overall practice (ODD=.73) and initiation of breastfeeding (ODD=.715). Educational level of the respondents had also contribution to their overall practice (ODD=2.045), initiation (ODD=2.638) and for continuation of breastfeeding (ODD=1.958) up to the age of two years. Respondents whose nature of duty demanded to work half in office-and-half in field were 3.6 times more likely to practice exclusive breastfeeding than those respondents who worked mostly in field. The main reasons of the respondents for stopping breastfeeding were work related problems (46%) followed by age of child (22.4%) and insufficient breast milk (16.7%). Generally, the present study indicates that knowledge on breastfeeding had significant relations with the respondents’ attitude and practices. Key words: Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, military mother, Breastfeeding, motheren-USKnowledgeAttitudesPracticesMilitary motherBreastfeedingMotherThesis