TY - JOUR AU - Leshi, Oluwatosin Olushola AU - Amoo, Sururah Abimbola PY - 2023/02/17 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Breastfeeding knowledge, attitude, intention and practice of women in Purdah in Ibadan, Nigeria JF - The North African Journal of Food and Nutrition Research JA - Nor. Afr. J. Food Nutr. Res. VL - 7 IS - 15 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.51745/najfnr.7.15.9-19 UR - https://najfnr.com/home/article/view/248 SP - 9-19 AB - <p><strong>Background:</strong> Religious beliefs and practices have been implicated in mothers’ breastfeeding practices; however, little is known about the breastfeeding intention and practices of women in <em>Purdah</em>. <strong>Aims:</strong> To assess the breastfeeding knowledge, attitude, intention and practices of women in <em>Purdah</em> in Ibadan, Nigeria. <strong>Subjects and Methods:</strong> Three hundred and sixty-three consenting women in <em>Purdah</em> (250 married and 113 unmarried) from seven Islamic and Arabic schools (<em>Madrasah</em>) participated in this cross-sectional study. A semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to elicit data on the respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics, breastfeeding knowledge and breastfeeding attitude. Breastfeeding intention and practices were also obtained from unmarried and married respondents respectively. <strong>Results:</strong> The average age of the respondents was 31.2 ± 6.6 years, 68.9 % were married while 56.4 % of the unmarried were engaged to getting married (<em>Khitba</em>). Two-thirds of the married women had adequate breastfeeding knowledge while 56.6 % of the unmarried women had inadequate breastfeeding knowledge. Overall, 6 out of every 10 women in <em>Purdah</em> had adequate breastfeeding knowledge. Also, 6 out 10 of the respondents had positive attitudes toward breastfeeding (65.2 % for married and 58.4 % for unmarried), however, less than half of the unmarried and married women had appropriate intention (47 %) to breastfeeding and good breastfeeding practices (47.2 %) respectively. A Significant relationship was found between breastfeeding knowledge, attitude and intention among unmarried women. Similarly, significant association also existed between breastfeeding knowledge, attitude and practices among married women in <em>Purdah</em>. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Targeted breastfeeding intervention that would improve breastfeeding intention and practices of women in <em>Purdah</em> should be adopted in the teaching curriculum at Islamic and Arabic schools.</p> ER -