Support offered by grandmothers to new mothers greatly influences their breastfeeding habits. This study was
conducted in Tamale, Ghana, to assess the knowledge and perception of grandmothers on breastfeeding. It involved 400
grandmothers purposively selected from the study area between January and April, 2014. Data were analyzed using SPSS
(version 19.0), with a Chi-square (X2) test performed at a P<0.05 considered significant. The results showed that: 76% of
respondents were aware of appropriate breastfeeding practices; 88.2% were aware of exclusive breastfeeding practice; 55% gave
advice to mothers on exclusive breastfeeding; 61.5% believed that exclusive breastfeeding helped promote the health of both
baby and mother; and 69.5% said children should be breastfed on demand during the exclusive breastfeeding period. On early
initiation of exclusive breastfeeding, only 42.2% knew that the child should be latched to the breast within 1-hour after delivery.
Concerning colostrum, two-thirds of grandmothers believed that it had a protective effect on infants, with 78.2% of them
believing that it should be given to the baby whiles the remaining 21.8% believes that it should be discarded. Strong correlations
were established between: awareness and knowledge of appropriate breastfeeding practices; and grandmothers‟ knowledge and
likelihood of giving advice to mothers. Grandmothers that were aware of appropriate breastfeeding practices were more likely to
perceive it as good than those that were unaware of it (X²=65.506, P<0.001). Knowledge level of breastfeeding practices among
grandmothers was high, and they were more likely to have good perception of appropriate breastfeeding practices and gave
advice on it to mothers.