Özet:

Objective: The World Health Organization recommends that during the first 6 months of life babies should be exclusively breast-fed and complemantary feeding should be started at 6 months of age, and breastfeeding should continue at least 2 years. In Turkey although majority of mothers prefer to feed their babies with breastmilk after delivery, they start supplementation before 6 months of age. The aim of this study is to investigate why and when mothers start supplementary feeding and to find out their opinions about formulas. Materials and Methods: The sample of this descriptive and cross-sectional study included mothers of 6-24 month old babies who applied to the outpatient clinic at Kağıthane State Hospital and accepted to participate. The participants were interviewed with a questionnaire form. Data were evaluated by Mann-Whitney u and Spearman analysis. Results: The study encompassed 205 mothers. In the first day after labour, 88% of the mothers began to feed their babies with breast milk, but 19,5% of them gave herbal tea or water with sugar during the first three days of life. During the first 6 months 36% of the babies were using pacifiers and 49% were using bottle. The mean age for beginning complementary feeding was 4,6 ±1,9 months and the duration was 10,1 ±3,1 months for breastfeeding. Insufficient breastfeeding and hunger of the baby were the leading reasons for supplementation before 6 months of life. The other reasons were letting the baby learn the new tastes and refusal of breastfeeding by the baby. When mothers were asked for their opinion about formulas, 68,8% told that they did not trust formulas and 8,3% had no opinion. Conclusion: While Turkish mothers seem to prefer breastfeeding right after delivery, later they think breastfeeding was not enough and their babies were still hungry. Especially during the first 6 months after delivery, mothers should be encouraged and supported to breastfeed exclusively and be informed that breastfeeding is sufficient for their babies using the growth charts

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