Abstract:

Aim: The study was conducted to determine mothers' breastfeeding experiences and the individual, social and cultural factors that affect these experiences. Material and Methods: The research is a descriptive study using the in-depth interview technique, one of the qualitative research methods. Considering the data saturation situation, two individual interviews were conducted with ten pregnant women who applied to the obstetrics and gynecology outpatient clinic of a state hospital in the Western Black Sea region and agreed to participate in the study in the first and sixth months after delivery. The data were collected with a semi-structured interview form and evaluated using thematic analysis. Results: In the analysis of the data, three main themes (attitudes and behaviors related to breastfeeding, breastfeeding experience, and factors affecting breastfeeding experience) were determined from the first interview and the second interview. It has been observed that mothers breastfeed their babies in the first hour after birth but give them food other than breast milk, and all mothers, except one mother, start supplementary foods before the sixth month. Conclusion: In our study, it is seen that although mothers have knowledge about breastfeeding and the importance of breast milk, they cannot continue breastfeeding successfully. This suggests that breastfeeding education given to mothers is insufficient alone and that individual, environmental, and social factors are effective in the breastfeeding experience.

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