The knowledge, atti̇tude and behavi̇or of the mothersabout breastfeedi̇ng and the tradi̇ti̇onal methodswhi̇ch i̇ncreases amount of the breast mi̇lk

Breast milk is the most important nutrient for healthy growth and development of the infant. Mothers are applying to various traditional methods according to the regional and cultural characteristics to increase the breast milk. This study was made as descriptive and cross-sectional study to research the knowledge, attitude and behavior of the mothers who had babies about the traditional methods increasing the breast milk. The population of the current research includes the mothers admitted to Afyon State Hospital outpatient department of pediatrics and the mothers who had babies inpatients in pediatrics. The sample size was calculated as 227 people. A questionnaire consisting of 45 questions was administered face to face investigating the mothers' beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors about breastfeeding and milk increasing practices. To analyze the data the descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U and chi-square test were performed. SPSS 18.0 was used for the statistical analysis of the data. The average age of participants was 25,7 ± 5,0. The rate of the mothers who had education about breastfeeding and breast milk was 34,8% during pregnancy and 63,9% after the birth. The ratio of those who know the traditional methods to increase their milk was 92,5%, and using the herbal tea was 45,8%. Mothers' education level, number of children and unplanned pregnancies affected the applications aiming to increase mother's milk (P <0.001, p <0.047, p <0.014). The most commonly used conventional methods were consuming plenty of fluids, onions, halvah, herbal tea and wheat. The most commonly used herbal teas, respectively; mixed herb tea and fennel. In the both prenatal and postpartum time, health staff must give information to mothers about the methods to increase their milk as they give breastfeeding education.