Background: Exclusive breast-feeding (EBF) rates in Nigeria continue to fall below the WHO/UNICEF recommendation of 90% EBF in children less than 6 months in developing countries. Majority of the mothers are currently breastfeeding, but less than half of the mothers are exclusively breastfeeding. Despite the huge advantages of EBF and ill-effects of not exclusively breastfeeding, practice of EBF is not widespread in the developing countries like Nigeria. Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the exclusive breastfeeding practices among nursing mothers who attend antenatal care in Enugu State, Nigeria. Methods: Data collection was by using a validated 26-item structured questionnaire which was administered to four hundred and twelve (412) nursing mothers who attended antenatal care in the health centres in Enugu state. Data generated from the study were analysed using mean and standard deviation for the research questions while t-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses 1 and 2, then ANOVA was used to test the hypothesis 3 at 0.05 level of significance. Results: The nursing mothers who had ante-natal visits for four times and above practise exclusive breast-feeding to a high level with a grand mean of 2.81 and a standard deviation of 0.55 for all the items. The nursing mothers in urban locations in Enugu State practice exclusive breastfeeding to a high level with a grand mean of 3.11 and a standard deviation of 0.36 for all the items. The unemployed nursing mothers generally have high level of practice of exclusive breastfeeding with a grand mean of 3.18 and a standard deviation of 0.29. This is followed by the self-employed nursing mothers who also practice exclusive breastfeeding to a high extent with a grand mean of 2.56 and a standard deviation of 0.15. Conclusion: Exclusive breastfeeding practice requires prompt attention in Nigeria as it has great benefits for child survival. Rural location, non-attendance/reduced number of ANC visits, and maternal employment negatively influence EBF practice among the nursing mothers in Enugu State, Nigeria. A prenatal EBF plan during antenatal care for every mother, distribution of leaflets on EBF practice with pictures to the mothers during ante-natal visit, deployment of more health workers to rural areas for effective EBF education, and extension of maternity leave up to the first six month of child’s age to achieve the most favorable EBF practices are recommended.
