Evaluation of Breastfeeding in a Baby-friendly City, Çorum, Turkey

Abstract

SUMMARYÇorum is one of the Baby-Friendly Cities in Turkey since 2004. For optimum initiation and continuing of breastfeeding, not only educating the mothers about breast milk and breastfeeding is enough but also social support systems including family support is very important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the breast feeding status and the effect of lactation counseling support (LCS) on breastfeeding and social support in a Baby-Friendly City. In a cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was administered to 800 mothers of infants between 2-24 months admitted to government and private hospitals and government health facilities in urban part, towns and villages of Çorum for any reason, between February 2006 and February 2007. Mothers' and fathers' age and education level, the type of family, the sex and the order of children, the type of birth, the infants' birth weights, planned pregnancy did not affect the participation of LCS. Mothers who gave colostrum as the first food had more frequently taken LCS than mothers who gave prelacteal foods (p<0.01). The percentage of LCS in mothers who knew the expression of breast milk and didn't give bottle feeding was higher compared to others (respectively; p<0.01, p=0.05). Mothers supported from husbands, sisters and mothersin-law participated more frequently (p<0.05) in LCS than unsupported mothers. LCS is very important for mothers to develop correct attitudes and behavior about breastfeeding and family collaboration. Further regional studies should be done to follow the changes in breastfeeding status, to detect the local problems and to arrange special training programmes.

Abusive head trauma: two case reports

“…It has been reported that such type of counselling trainings given to mothers in hospitals in USA have reduced AHT by 47% (8). In another study conducted in Turkey, it was observed that mothers who received breastfeeding counselling received more support from their husbands and mother-in-laws for the care of their babies and the frequency of child abuse was lower in these families (9). In our second case, there was a history of shaking because of frequent and prolonged crying of the baby.…”

Trends and determinants of prelacteal feeding in Turkey: analysis of 2003–2018 demographic and health surveys

“…Thus, intensive cross-promotion of infant formula indirectly via the promotion of follow-up formula and foods for infants and young children is among the most important threatenings of BFHI. Also, easy access to infant formula, inadequate and inappropriate counselling on breastfeeding during prenatal follow-up visits to pregnant women and inability to support early postnatal breastfeeding are considered as possible additional reasons of this outcome (30) .…”

Promotion and support of breastfeeding within the baby-friendly hospital initiative programme in Slovakia

“…After Cesarean delivery, women are also more likely to use breastmilk substitutes, contributing to a reduction in milk production of up to 23.1% (Zhang et al, 2019). Insufficient and inadequate knowledge, social expectations, the influence of mass media pressure, the immediate availability of breast-milk substitutes, and lack of breast milk are the main factors resulting in low exclusive breastfeeding rates (Erkul et al, 2010;Gao et al, 2016;Hongo et al, 2015). In Slovakian hospitals, breast-milk substitutes are often also given to breastfed children (Chovancová, 2016).…”