Abstract

Globally, breast milk has been described as the gold standard of infant feeding. It provides complete nutrients for
infant and childhood development. In 2002, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World health organization
jointly came up with a global policy for infant and young child feeding. This policy emphasized breastfeeding as an
irreplaceable practice of providing infants with the ideal nutrients for optimal growth and development. This study
therefore looked into the motivating factors as well as challenges of exclusive breastfeeding. The paper identified
the benefits to the child, mother and community, and further highlighted the challenges of exclusive breastfeeding.
The study concluded that a lot more needs to be done to scale up exclusive breastfeeding among mothers as they
are challenged with numerous problems. It recommended among others, the need for exclusive breastfeeding
programme interventions to be directed at increasing uptake with emphasis on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding
as well as correct misconceptions about the practice. Also, dissemination programme interventions on the awareness
and benefits of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers at the community level should involve important key players
such as community leaders, husbands, mother in-laws and grandmothers as they often influence in the decision of a
mother to exclusively breastfeed.