Background <p>Breastfeeding practices in Iraq, especially in the Kurdistan Region, remain below global recommendations that might lead to negative consequences. So, the aim of this study was to assess breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes among Kurdish mothers and identify main demographic predictors.</p> Methods <p>A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 412 Kurdish mothers who had breastfed at least one child, recruited from public and private maternal healthcare facilities across the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, from December 2024 to February 2025. Following ethical approval from the University Ethical Committee, data were collected via a structured and validated questionnaire to assess breastfeeding knowledge (11 dichotomous items) and attitudes (8 Likert-scale items). Then, ordinal logistic regression was used to identify significant predictors.</p> Results <p>The mean age of the participants was 30.4 ± 7.1 years. Only 20.6% and 18.7% of mothers demonstrated high breastfeeding knowledge and positive attitude, respectively. Younger mothers aged ≤ 24 (Aor = 0.430; 95% CI: 0.187–0.985; <i>p</i> = 0.046) and 25–32 years (Aor = 0.462; 95% CI: 0.234–0.910; <i>p</i> = 0.025) were less likely to have high knowledge than those ≥ 41 years. Illiterate women had markedly lower odds of high knowledge (Aor = 0.280; <i>p</i> = 0.016) and more likely positive attitude (Aor = 3.567; <i>p</i> = 0.041) than those hold postgraduate certificates. Receiving breastfeeding education from relatives was significantly associated with lower odds of a positive attitude (Aor = 0.345; 95% CI: 0.167–0.715; <i>p</i> = 0.004), whereas a monthly income of 400,000–600,000 IQD had a positive association (COR = 1.972; 95% CI: 1.049 − 3.707; <i>p</i> = 0.035).</p> Conclusion <p>Younger and less-educated mothers exhibit poorer breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes. Thus targeted health education is essential to improve breastfeeding outcomes in the region.</p>