Irak dhiqar şehirindeki annelerin emzirmeye yönelik memnuniyetlerinin araştırılması

Background: Nutrition plays an important role in maintaining healthy growth and development during infancy. The best form of nutrition for the baby is breast milk. Breast milk is special for every baby and its nutritional content varies according to the baby's needs. The most economical, healthy and practical way to feed breast milk is by breastfeeding. Breastfeeding strengthens the bond between mother and baby. The United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) also recommend breastfeeding only for the first six months, and breastfeeding with complementary foods until at least two years of age. For this reason, in order to increase breastfeeding success, it is important to know the satisfaction of mothers about their breastfeeding experiences in the early period and to maintain effective breastfeeding by creating an appropriate education plan. Aim: This research aims to evaluate mothers' satisfaction with their breastfeeding experience in Dhiqar City, Iraq. Method: The research was conducted as a descriptive cross-sectional type in order to determine the thoughts of breastfeeding mothers about their breastfeeding experiences in Iraq. The population of the study consisted of 199 mothers living in Dhiqar, Iraq between November 2022 and February 2023 who met the sampling criteria. As a data collection tool, a Mother Information Form and the Arabic version of the Maternal Breastfeeding Evaluation Scale (MBFES-A) were used. Number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test and ANOVA tests were used in the analysis of the data. The Tukey test was used to determine the differences between groups. Result: 45.7% of the mothers were in the age range of 30-39 years, 74.4% were secondary school graduates, 65.8% were working, 61.8% had a monthly income equal to their expenses, and 93.5% lived in a city. It was determined that 43.7% had four or more children, 71.4% had had an unplanned pregnancy and 76.4% had had a normal delivery. In addition, 56.8% had received information about breastfeeding during pregnancy, 93.5% did not have any problems with breastfeeding in the partum / postpartum period, 48.2% breastfed their baby immediately after birth and 74.4% gave first breast milk to their baby after birth. The mean MBFES-A scale score of the mothers was 56.35±7.04, the mean of the Infant Satisfaction / Growth Sub-Dimension was 18.36 ±3.56, the mean of the Maternal Enjoyment/role attainment Sub-Dimension was 19.41±3.19 and the lifestyle/body image sub-dimension was 19.41±3.19. The mean of the Lifestyle/ Body Image Sub-dimension was determined to be 18.57±2.30. It was determined that there were statistically significant differences in the participants' MBFES-A scores according to their education level, economic status perception, place of residence, number of children, whether their pregnancy was planned, whether they had received information on breastfeeding during pregnancy, whether they had had any problems with breastfeeding at the birth or afterwards, how long after the birth they had breastfed the baby, and what food they had first given to the baby after the birth (p>0.05). No significant relationship was found between the sex of the baby and its age in months and breastfeeding satisfaction (p>0.05). The mother's age, employment status and family type were found to affect different dimensions of breastfeeding satisfaction (p<0.05). Conclusion: According to the results obtained from the research, it was determined that the sociodemographic characteristics of the mother, the characteristics of birth, the infant and breastfeeding affected maternal breastfeeding satisfaction and its different dimensions. It was concluded that the gender of the baby and the month of the baby have no effect on the breastfeeding satisfaction of the mother. It is recommended by nurses that mothers' satisfaction with the breastfeeding experience and the factors affecting it be evaluated, and that individualized breastfeeding counselling be provided.