The effect of prenatal breast-feeding and breast-milk training given to expectant mothers on the behaviour of breast-feeding

Aim: At present, training given during pregnancy has been shown to affect the beginning, percentage and duration of breast-feeding. The present study aims to inform expectant mothers about breast-milk and breast-feeding via a prenatal training and to emphasize the advantages of the training. Material and Method: Trainings on and breast-milk were held for the pregnant womens on two days in a week. Each expectant mother was given prenatal training once. Data were collected via a questionnaire composed of 42 questions about breast-milk and breastfeeding. Statistical 7.0 package was used for statistical analysis. All numeric values were expressed as mean +/- SD and n (%). A p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. This study was approved by the Trakya University Local Ethics Committee. Results: A total of 190 mothers, 90 in training group and 100 in control group were included in the study. A significant difference in the breast-feeding percentage was found in the first six months. The bottle feeding was found to be the case of breast-feeding for less than six months. Conclusions: It is concluded in the present study that the percentage and duration of feeding only with breast-milk could be increased if pregnant women are given training about breast-milk. (Turk Arch Ped 2011; 46: 75-80)