Gebreselassie DkubagzhiAbdulaziz Addus2018-06-122023-11-052018-06-122023-11-051988-01http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/551Recent evidence suggests that there is currently a trend away from breast feeding in developing countries, despite the large numbers of studies documenting its beneficial effects on child health.The prevalence of breast feeding in Jimma Town was found to be 65 - percent in a cross sectional study of 975 mothers, -The mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 4,4 months and the mean duration of overall breastfeeding was 15 months, -Forty three percent of mothers gave food supplements for their children by the age of 4 w 6 months, Additionally, i t was found that 60percent of the mothers breast fed f or mere than 18 months, Seventy eight percent of mothers started breast feeding immediately after birth and the majority breast fed on demand, Forty two percent of mothers gave milk and milk products as a supplement and 76.5 percent of them gave the milk with bottle, Twenty five percent of mothers were of the opinion that mothers should exclusively breast feed children for 4 w 6 months, -Seventy nine percent felt that mothers should optimally breast feed for 18months or mere. Only Thirty six percent of mothers considered breast feeding to be superior to bottle feeding for a child of4 '- (3 months, A search for social and cultural determinants for the occurrences of extended breast feeding was conducted and it was found out that family income, educational 1avel of both the mother and her husband to have a negative correlation with the length of breast feeding.Religion, ethnicity, occupation and marital status are found to have no association with duration of breastfeeding. It is shown in this study that socio- economic characteristics of a family have great association with duration of breastfeeding. It is recommended that nutritional education a supported by practical demonstration to. Encourage mothers from such back grounds to breast feed longer.enBreast Feeding , JimmaThesis