Table 4 Characteristics of mothers who do and do not practice exclusive breastfeeding (n = 190)

Variable

Yes (n = 111)

No (n = 79)

p-value

Age of mother (in years)

 <30

45 (40.5 %)

27 (34.2 %)

0.230

 ≥30

66 (59.5 %)

52 (65.8 %)

Child’s age (in months)

 <3

64 (57.7 %)

6 (7.6 %)

<0.001

 ≥3

47 (42.3 %)

73 (92.4 %)

Mother’s employment status

 Employed

85 (76.6 %)

66 (83.5 %)

0.161

 Unemployed

26 (23.4 %)

13 (16.5 %)

Mothers’ educational level

 Low educational level

34 (30.6 %)

40 (50.6 %)

0.004

 High educational level

77 (69.4 %)

39 (49.4 %)

Parity

 1

42 (37.8 %)

28 (35.4 %)

0.428

 >1

69 (62.2 %)

51 (64.6 %)

Marital status

 Not married

8 (7.2 %)

5 (6.3 %)

0.528

 Married

103 (92.8 %)

74 (93.7 %)

Mothers’ religion

 Christianity

60 (54.1 %)

44 (55.7 %)

0.221

 Islamic

51 (45.9 %)

33 (41.8 %)

 African traditional religion

0 (0.0 %)

2 (2.5 %)

Mothers’ knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding

 High

72 (64.9 %)

15 (19.0 %)

<0.001

 Low

39 (35.1 %)

64 (81.0 %)

Mothers’ attitude towards exclusive breastfeeding

 Positive

99 (89.2 %)

58 (73.4 %)

0.004

 Less positive

12 (10.8 %)

21 (26.6 %)