The relationship between breastfeeding status, breastfeeding self-efficacy and depression in mothers with 0-6 months infants

Objective:To investigate the relationship between breastfeeding self-efficacy, breastfeeding status and postpartum depression in mothers with 0-6 months infants. Method:This study was conducted at Samsun University Training and Research Hospital Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Children's Hospital. The study was conducted between January and June 2023 and was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The study population consisted of mothers over the age of eighteen who applied to the breastfeeding outpatient clinic and had a baby between 0-6 months. The study compared mothers who exclusively breastfeed (study group), mothers who exclusively formula feed and mothers who both formula feed and breastfeed (control group). The sample of the study was calculated as 240 people using g-power. The questionnaire, including sociodemographic information, the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (BSES), and the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), was administered to the participants face-to-face. Findings:247 mothers participated in the study, and the mean age of the mothers was 29.4 years. The rate of exclusively breastfeeding mothers was 65.2%. The parameters that caused differences between the study and control groups were educational status (p:0.017), breastfeeding education (p:0.026), breastfeeding distress (p:0.001), and target breastfeeding duration (p:0.001). While the BSES scores were significantly different in the two groups (p:0,001), no relationship was found between the EPDS scores (p:0,271). There was a negative correlation between BSES and EPDS scores. Results:The factors affecting the BSES scores in the study group were found to be educational status, income status, number of children, planned pregnancy, breastfeeding education, difficulty of delivery, gestational week, time of the first breastfeeding of the baby, experiencing distress during breastfeeding, starting work after delivery, receiving help from spouse or other person, and target breastfeeding duration. It was observed that the factors affecting EPDS were educational status, income status, planned pregnancy, difficulty of delivery, birth week, time of the baby's first breastfeeding, experiencing distress during breastfeeding, and target breastfeeding duration. While a negative correlation was observed between spousal support and EPDS, the BSES score decreased significantly with the support of someone other than the spouse.