Recent evidence suggests that th ere is currently a trend awayrnfrom breastfseding in developing countries, despite the largernnumbers of studies documenting its beneficial effects on childrnheal1;h.rnThe prevalence of breast feeding in Jimma Town was found tornbe ~6,5 - percent in a cross sectional study of 975 methers, -Thernmean duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 4,4 months and thernmean duration of over all breastfeeding was 15 months, -Forty threernpercent of methers gave food supplements for their children byrnthe age of 4 w 6 months, Additionally, i t was found that 60rnpercent of the methers breast fed f or mere than 18 months, -rnSeventy eight percent of mothers started breast feedingrnimmediatly after birth and the majority breast fed on dsma~d,rnForty two percent of mothers gave milk and milk products as arnsupplement and 76.5 percent of them gave the milk with bott~e,rnTwenty five percent of mothers were of the opinion that mothersrnshould exclusively breast feed children for 4 w 6 menths, -Seventyrnnine percent felt that mothers should optimally breast feed for 18rnmonths or mere. Only Thirty six percent of methers consideredrnbreast feeding to be superior to bottle feeding for a child ofrn4 '- (3 months,rnA search for social and cultural determinants for the occurrancesrnof extended breast feeding was conducted and it was found ou t thatrnfamily income, educational 1avel of both the mother and her huSbandrnto have a negative correlation with the length of breast feedi~g.