Attitudes and habits of some pregnants regarding nutrition, breast milk and infant nutrition during pregnancy

This research was carried out to determine the knowledge, attitudes and habits of pregnant women about pregnant nutrition, breast milk and infant nutrition. Between June 2021 and September 2021, 202 pregnant women who applied to Başkent University Ankara Hospital, obstetrics and gynecology outpatient clinic were included in the study. A questionnaire form questioning socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, nutritional habits, general characteristics, knowledge levels of pregnant nutrition, breast milk and infant nutrition and IOWA infant feeding attitude scale were applied to pregnant women. 88.6% of the pregnant women reside in Ankara and 11.4% live outside Ankara. The mean age was 32.09 ± 4.34 years and their ages ranged from 23 to 45 years. 84.7% of them have a college or higher education level and 15.3% have a high school or lower education level. According to Body Mass Index grouping, 1% were underweight, 51.0% were in normal weight, 33.7% were pre-obese and 13.4% were in obesity class I group. According to the pregnant nutrition knowledge level score grouping, 12.9% were in the good group, 72.8% in the medium group and 14.3% in the bad group. According to the scoring of the knowledge level of breast milk and infant nutrition, it was determined that the knowledge level of 12.9% of pregnant women about pregnant nutrition was good, 72.8% of them were moderate, and 14.3% of them were bad. It was determined that 11.9% of the pregnant women had good knowledge, 74.7% had medium and 13.4% had bad knowledge about breast milk and infant feeding. The mean score of the IOWA infant feeding attitude scale of the pregnant women was 64.36 ± 6.85; It was determined that 2.5% of them were prone to formula feeding, 72.3% were undecided, and 25.2% were inclined to breastfeed. While no significant difference was found between age group, education level, gestational week and number of pregnancies and pregnant nutrition knowledge scores (p>0.05), there was a significant difference between the number of pregnancies and breast milk and infant nutrition knowledge scores, and between educational status and IOWA scores (p<0.05). The rate of mothers with more than one pregnancies with a medium (77.3%) and good (19.3%) knowledge of breast milk and infant nutrition knowledge score is higher than mothers with one pregnancy number. The percentage of undecided people (83.9%) in the group with high school or below education is higher than those with a college education and above (70.2%). Studies that will enable families and especially pregnant women to have more information about nutrition during pregnancy, breast milk and infant nutrition should be supported. Pregnant women should be encouraged to breastfeed and pregnant women should be informed about the benefits of breastfeeding.