The effects of antenatal parental breastfeeding education and counseling on the duration of breastfeeding, and maternal and paternal attachment

Background: Although all health benefits of breastfeeding are well established for mothers and newborns, the rates of exclusive breastfeeding of infants are lower than expected among Turkish mothers. Objectives: This research was conducted to investigate the effects of training and counseling services given to primiparous women and their spouses on the breastfeeding process, and maternal-paternal attachment. Methods: The research was conducted in two Hospitals in Sivas, a province in Turkey. Accordingly, 76 women and their spouses were separated randomly as “experimental” and “control” groups. Descriptive statistical methods, parametric and non-parametric tests were used in the statistical analysis of the data. Results: According to the data, the statistical difference between the two groups was not significant in terms of socio-demographic characteristics of pregnant women and their spouses (p>0.05). It was determined that while 94.7% of the experimental-group exclusively breastfed their babies, only 26.3% of the control-group mothers exclusively breastfed their babies for the first 6 months postpartum (p<0.05). The statistical difference between the two groups was significant (p<0.05). The rate of exclusive breastfeeding within the first 6 months postpartum among the participants given breastfeeding training was 50.4 times higher than that among those who were not given training. (Odds:50.400, %95 CI). Conclusion: In conclusion, in the present study, it was determined that the rates for the mothers’ early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding continuation rates and the mean scores the participants obtained from mean scale scores increased when they were given training and counselling on breastfeeding from the prenatal period until the end of the first sixth month postpartum.