BACKGROUND Adequate nutrition during early childhood ensures growth and development of children and breast milk is better than any other products given to a child. However, studies on exclusive breastfeeding practice are limited in Somaliland. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life and its associated factors among children 6-24 months of age in Burao district, Somaliland. METHODS A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 26 August to 10 October 2018, in Burao district among randomly, selected 464 mothers with children 6-24 months of age. Data were collected through face-to-face interview using pretested structured questionnaire. RESULTS The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was 20.47% (95% CI 18.84, 23.63%). Exclusive breastfeeding practice was associated with: having female child (AOR 0.48; 95% CI 0.29, 0.80)), lack of formal education (AOR 0.32; 95% CI 0.19, 0.53), household monthly income 100$-200$ (AOR 0.35;95% CI 0.18, 0.68), lack of husband's support (AOR 0.32; 95% CI 0.19, 0.53), and mothers who were not counselled on breastfeeding during antenatal care (AOR = 0.33; 95% CI 0.16, 0.66). CONCLUSIONS Exclusive breastfeeding practice was very low as compared to recommendations of infant and young child practice (IYCF) which recommends children to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months of life. Exclusive breastfeeding practice was associated with a mother's lack of formal education, monthly income less than 100$, being a female child, lack of advice on exclusive breastfeeding during antenatal care and lack of husband support. The promotion of education for women, husband's engagement, encouraging antenatal care follow-up and counseling of exclusive breastfeeding during antenatal care was recommended to improve exclusive breastfeeding practice.

中文翻译：

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在索马里兰的Burao地区，年龄为6-24个月的儿童在生命的头六个月内进行纯母乳喂养及其相关因素。

背景技术在幼儿时期的充足营养确保儿童的成长和发育，并且母乳比提供给儿童的任何其他产品更好。然而，在索马里兰，关于纯母乳喂养实践的研究非常有限。因此，本研究旨在评估索马里兰州Burao地区6至24个月大的儿童在出生后6个月内的纯母乳喂养及其相关因素。方法于2018年8月26日至10月10日在Burao地区进行了一项基于社区的横断面研究，随机抽取了464名6-24个月大的母亲作为母亲。使用预先测试的结构化问卷通过面对面访谈收集数据。结果纯母乳喂养的患病率为20.47％（95％CI 18.84，23.63％）。独家母乳喂养做法与以下因素有关：有女童（AOR 0.48; 95％CI 0.29，0.80）），缺乏正规教育（AOR 0.32; 95％CI 0.19，0.53），家庭月收入100 $ -200 $（AOR 0.35; 95％CI 0.18，0.68） ），缺乏丈夫的支持（AOR 0.32; 95％CI 0.19，0.53），以及在产前护理期间未接受母乳喂养咨询的母亲（AOR = 0.33; 95％CI 0.16，0.66）。结论与母婴惯例（IYCF）的建议相比，纯母乳喂养的做法非常少，后者建议儿童在生命的头6个月内完全母乳喂养。纯母乳喂养的做法与母亲缺乏正规教育，月收入低于100美元，还是女童，缺乏产前保健期间纯母乳喂养建议以及缺乏丈夫支持有关。促进妇女，丈夫的教育