Introduction: Breastfeeding is one of the components of Primary Health Care and considered as natural practices in
Ethiopia. However, a wide range of harmful infant feeding practices is documented even after implementations of infant
and young child feeding guidelines in 2004. Therefore the major objective of this study was to assess maternal knowledge
about optimal breastfeeding practices and associated factors in rural communities of Arba Minch Zuria.
Methods: A cross sectional community based study was carried out from January to February, 2012 in Arba Minch Zuria.
Quantitative data were collected from 383 mothers supplemented with qualitative data from 10 key informants. Data were
analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Binary logistic regressions were used to see the strength of association between
independent and dependent variables using odds ratios and 95% of confidence intervals. Finally a multivariate logistic
regression analysis was made to identify the predictors of maternal knowledge about optimal breastfeeding practices.
Results: Breastfeeding was considered as a natural gift in Arba Minch Zuria. More than half of mothers (57.2%) initiated
breastfeeding within the first hour of delivery and 213 (55.6%) were exclusively breastfed their children for 6 months.
Three-hundred forty one (89%) mothers gave colostrum though a small number of mothers considered colostrum as an
expired breast milk and discarded it. Maternal knowledge about optimal breastfeeding was positively associated with
paternal education level, total number of births, attending antenatal care, having the radio, using family planning and giving
birth by health workers. This study also showed there is a positive relationship between maternal knowledge of optimal
breastfeeding with exclusive breastfeeding and timely introduction of complementary food.
Conclusions: Findings from this study showed that maternal knowledge was directly related with paternal education level,
attending antenatal care, having the radio, using family planning and giving birth by health workers. Maternal knowledge
had a significant contribution in the promotion of optimal child feeding practices. Promotion of strong community based
education and support to ensure optimal infant and young child feeding is recommended for the whole communities with
health workers and community leaders to provide counseling and support related to infant and young child feeding
practices.