Knowledge and opinions of premature infant mother's on human milk banks

Mother milk is very important for the health of babies. Donor milk is suggested for babies that for some reason cannot receive their mother milk. Therefore, mother milk banks are very important institutions both for babies and mother. It is a known fact that not there is not enough knowledge on milk banks and there are negative opinions on it. The main aim of this study is to indicate the knowledge and opinions of premature infant mother's knowledge on milk banks. The research has been conducted at the Denizli State Hospital newborn intensive care unit, between the dates of 1 September 2016 – 1 March 2017. It has been carried with mothers whose babies are in the newborn intensive care unit. The sample is composed of 230 mothers who agreed to fill in the questionnaire and convenience sampling (accidental sampling) was used. The data has been gathered by the questionnaire that is composed of 39 questions which was prepared by the researcher. Descriptive statistics and the chi square test were used for the analysis stage of the research. The average age of the mothers who participated in the research is 27,20±1,12 (min-max= 19-40), the birth week average of the babies is 35,04±2,16 (min-max= 26-37). 38.3% of the mothers are secondary school graduates and 85.7% live in nuclear families. It has been determined that 86.1% of the mothers have never heard about the milk banks before, 90% did not know about them and, 43.9% of the mothers were indecisive about whether milk banks should be built or not. 41.3% of the mothers stated that they would not donate milk if a milk bank was to be established in our country while 66.5% stated that they would not request milk from milk banks. 48.3% of the mothers stated that they did not know whether milk banks would cause any problems in means of religion. Lastly, it has been noted that 58.3% of the mothers request more information on milk banks. A meaningful statistical ratio has been found between the education level of the mothers and prior knowledge of milk banks, the support towards establishments of milk banks, the need towards milk banks, milk donation and milk request. Overall, it has been found that majority of the mothers do not hold sufficient knowledge about milk banks. It is found that majority is indecisive about establishing milk banks. It can be stated that a positive attitude towards milk banks is parallel with the mother's education level, it increases as the education level increases. There is a need to resolve the worries of the society on milk banks and the society should be informed more about it. Key Words: Mother Milk Bank, Premature Baby, Knowledge, View, Nursing