Breast-feeding and weaning behaviour of mothers with children under 6 years age in diyarbakir

Aim of this study is to evaluate the behaviours of mothers on breastfeeding and breast milk, to define the reasons of improper behaviours and their effects on breastfeeding by gathering information on breastfeeding and breast milk, and to investigate the effect of socio-demographic factors on breastfeeding. The research is cross-sectional and it was applied between January and February 2008 in Diyarbakır city center.In this study, cluster sampling was used. Primary Health Care Centers regions were considered as clusters. The research was conducted in 50 different Primary Health Care Centers regions. We by this way we reached 992 mothers. In our study, it was found that 78,3% of the mothers heavily breastfed their children for the first six months. 92,4% of them gave colostrum and also that 99,4% of mothers breastfed their children at least once.While risk of not giving breast milk for the first 6 moths increases 1,9 times (95% CI=1,07 - 3,35) among home births, it is observed that among women without any breast milk knowledge, the risk of not giving breast milk increases 3,51 times (95% CI = 2,09-5,92) (p=0,027, p<0,0001). In addition, while the risk of not giving colostrum increases 2,7 times (95% CI=1,25- 5,75) among mothers given birth at home, the risk of not giving breast milk for the first six months increases only 3,99 times (95% CI=2,00-7,93) (p=0,011, p<0,0001) among women without knowledge about breast milk.