Effect of the beginning of early complementary food on breastfeeding in Efeler district of Aydin province: A crosssectional study in the year 2015

Introduction and Aim It was targeted to find out breastfeeding status, duration and affecting factors of mothers who had 6-24 months baby, getting breast milk status of babies, beginning of complementry food status and affecting factors, the effect of beginning of early complementry food on breastfeeding. Material and Method The study was designed as a descriptive, crosssectional research. Family Health Centers in Efeler district of Aydın province constituted the universe of our study and multistage sampling method was used. Sample size was found 348. Informed consents were signed with face to face interview between 01.02.2015 and 30.04.2015 by applying mothers with baby 6-24 months in chosen Family Health Centers and the questionnaire was done. The mothers who were continuing breastfeeding were asked two questions after 6 months using the same questionnaire again. The collected data were statistically analysed using SPSS, version 18. Results The mothers' mean age was 29,21±5,11 years. The babies were 13,45±5,08 months on average. 53,7% of the babies were female, 46,3% were male. Babies were given colostrum firstly by 95,7% of the mothers. The mothers who had highest family's income preferred breast milk as the first food more than the others. 88,2 % of the mothers began breast milk in an hour after the delivery. 64,5% of the babies were still breastfeeding, 42,2% of the babies were used pacifier. The mean duration of the breastfeeding of the babies were 10,62±5,06 months. The duration of the breastfeeding was affected by delivery type and pacifier usage. Babies who were borned by caesarean section and used pacifier had a shorter duration of breastfeeding than the others. 90,2% of the mothers had stayed in the same room at nights during breastfeeding. Mother-baby bedroom sharing effected the total breastfeeding duration in a positive manner. Mean exclusive breastfeeding time was 5,07±1,62 months and the ratio of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months was 56,0%. The most frequent breastfeeding problems of the mothers were wounded and cracked nipples (49,7%), lack of experience (6,6%), mastitis (3,7%). The most frequent causes of the cessation of breastfeeding were rejection of the nipple of the baby (17,5%), thought of insufficient milk production (13,2%), insufficient weight gain of the baby (4,6%). 49,1% of the mothers preferred yoghurt as a first complementary food. 37.9% of the mothers had begun complementary food before six months. The most frequent causes of the beginning of complementary food of the mothers were doctor recommendation (58,9%), feeding baby better (26,2%) and thought of insufficient milk production (23,6%). When the mothers who continued breastfeeding were interviewed after 6 months, 63,6% of the mothers continued breastfeeding. The most frequent reasons of the cessation of breastfeeding were attaining 2 years of age of the baby (30,8%), rejection of the nipple of the baby (21,8%), thought of insufficient milk production (20,5%). A significant association was seen between mothers' age, breastfeeding situation, pacifier usage and the time of early beginning of the the complementary food. A maternel age younger than 29 years old, cessation of the breastfeeding, pacifier usage were the risk factors for early beginning of the complementary food. Conclusion The rate of early beginning of the complementary food was found high in our study compared to the average in Turkey. Difficulties is experienced about weaning and the rate of early beginning of the complementary food has increased in our country in last five years. This result indicates deficiency about the most effective way of training which is face to face training. It is expected increasing of the duration of exclusive breastfed babies with making of consistent educational practices. Key words: Breast milk, breastfeeding, breastfeeding duration, complementary food.