The effect of breathing exercise applied to mothers with premature babies on anxiety level and breast milk content

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the effect of breathing exercise applied to mothers with premature babies on the mothers' anxiety level and breast milk content. Material and Methods: This study is designed as a pretest-posttest (before and after breathe exercise) a half-experimental study. The population of the study consisted of mothers of premature babies hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Aydın Adnan Menderes University Hospital between May 2021 and May 2023. The sample consisted of 128 mothers of premature babies. Data were obtained from Data Collection Form, which included questions about the mother's socio-demographic characteristics as well as her medical history, Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) and breast milk content. Milk content information eas obtained from patient file. The data were evaluated with descriptive statistics and parametric and non-parametric tests in dependent groups in pre-test-post-test comparisons. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Wilcoxon test were used. For repeated measurements, t test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used in dependent groups. Results: There was statistically no significant difference in fat, carbohydrate and energy levels between before and after the breathing exercise (p>0.05). On the other hand, a significant decrease was observed in gross protein and real protein levels in breast milk content after exercise compared to before exercise (p = 0.006 and p = 0.009). While there was a significant decrease in state anxiety after exercise compared to before exercise (p<0.001), a significant increase was observed in trait anxiety (p=0.041). When mothers are evaluated on their own, the more the trait anxiety decreased after the exercise, the more the amount of fat and energy in breast milk content increased (p = 0.026 r=0.199 and p=0,003 r=0.258, respectively) Conclusion: Breathing exercises applied to mothers of premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit had a decreasing effect on state anxiety. There was an increase in the amount of fat and energy in breast milk content in mothers whose trait anxiety decreased. This study will guide studies directed towards effects of non-pharmacological methods on breast milk content.