The impact of breast milk application and education on preventing of diaper dermatitis in babies

The research was carried out as a pre-post test and control design experimental study in order to determine the effect of education given to mothers living in rural areas about diaper dermatitis care and breast milk application on the prevention of diaper dermatitis in healthy infants aged 6-18. The sample of the study consisted of 48 infants followed in the Family Health Center of Karahallı Hacı Rafet Zora District State Hospital. The infants were divided into three groups as two experimental (breast milk-16 infants and education-16 infants) groups and a control (16 infants) group. Data were collected between February 2022 and May 2022. In data collection; Sociodemographic Information Form, Descriptive Information Form for Mothers' Sub-Care Practices, the Assessing the Severity of Uncomplicated Diaper Dermatitis in Infants Scale were used. The data were analyzed with the SPSS 26 package program. Breast milk was administered to one group of infants in the experimental group; the other group was given training on diaper rash care. According to the findings, a statistically significant decrease was observed in the third visit scores of the the Assessing the Severity of Uncomplicated Diaper Dermatitis in Infants Scale in the breast milk group. In the comparison of the experimental and control groups, the evaluation score of the babies in the education group at their third visit (0.25±0.68) was significantly lower than that of the control group (0.94±0.93), and the scores of the babies in the breast milk group were also significantly lower than those of the education group was found to be lower. As a result, it was determined that breast milk application and education given to mothers were effective in preventing diaper dermatitis. In terms of long-term use, it is suggested that breast milk is more effective in preventing diaper dermatitis than the education given, and that breast milk can be an effective and safe method in preventing diaper dermatitis in infants. Keywords: baby, diaper dermatitis, education, breast milk, nurse