Abstract:

Exclusive breastfeeding is the appropriate nutrition for infants during the first 4-6 months of life. Breast-feeding has positive effects on children’s growth and development. The aim of this study was to evaluate the breastfeeding status of the infant and the children, and the effects of breastfeeding on children’s growth and development.134 infants and children between 6 months to 5 years of age were included. The breastfeeding status, growth and development of the study group were evaluated. The percentage of children who had taken the breast milk as the first food was 61.2 %. There was no significant correlation between solely breastfeeding and maternal age, education level, working status or number of children. It’s found that bodyweight and height of the children were correlated with the time of first breastfeeding. Height was correlated with the duration of breastfeeding too. In the study group, foods the first given to the study group were yoghurt (35.1 %), fruit juice (23.9 %), vegetables soup (17.2 %) and pudding (7.5 %). It is observed that the mean breast feeding time were diminished significantly when early beginning to complementary foods. Breast-feeding is common in Turkey but the biggest problem is that some families are beginning to give additional foods at early stages. So they should be educated and encouraged for the breastfeeding.

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