Determining The Breast Milk And Breastfeeding Myths Of Postpartum Women

Objective: Common beliefs about breast milk and breastfeeding in society are one of the obstacles to exclucive breastfeeding, especially in the first six months of life. This study was conducted to determine the beliefs of women who gave birth abouth breast milk and breastfeeding myths as a descriptive study. Methods: The sample of study consisted of 282 postpartum women who gave birth at a university hospital. The data were collected by the "Individual Qualities Form" and “Breast Milk and Bresatfeeding Myths Form” developed by there searchers. Breast Milk and Bresatfeeding Myths Form is composed of the items that express common beliefs about breast milk and breastfeeding in society and each item is answered in triple likert type as "I agree", "Undecided", "I do not agree". Forms were applied before discharged. The data were evaluated in the SPSS (14.0) program on the computer and chi-square test was used in the statistical analysis. Results: The average age of the women in the study is 29.48±6.11, 26.2% is secondary school graduate, 82.3% is not working and 53.5% is living in province center. 62.1% of women have previous breastfeeding experience. 67% of the women had information about breast milk and breastfeeding from health personnel during last pregnancy. Myths that women are most convinced about are: "Inadequate intake of nutrients and fluids reduces the amount of milk" (92.9%), "If the baby is constantly crying, breast milk is not enough" (65.6%), "Breastfeeding for longer than two years improves dependence on the mother" (64.9%), "If the baby wants to suck frequently, this shows that the amount of milk is inadequate" (60.3%). It was found that the percentage of women with primary and lower education levels participating in 27 out of 49 myths was found to be significantly higher than women with secondary education and education (p<0.05). Moreover, the percentage of women with breastfeeding experience who participated in 7 myth expressions was found to be significantly higher than women without breastfeeding experience (p<0.05). It was determined that there was no significant difference between the percentages of participation in myths by information about breastfeeding and breastfeeding from health personnel except for four items (p> 0.05). Conclusions: The results showed that breast milk and breastfeeding myths were common among postpartum women. Among women who have a low education level and have breastfeeding experience, these myths are more likely to believe. The availability of information from the health personnel did not affect the level of