Breastfeeding Habits of Mothers in Turkey: A Systematic Review

When the researches were investigated systematically, the total number of mothers was 17485. Questionnaire forms based on literature were generally used in the researches to evaluate breastfeeding behaviors of mothers and scales relating to the subject were used in some researches so that mothers would gain positive breastfeeding behavior. The majority of the mothers, whose breastfeeding behaviors were investigated, were primary school graduate or had lower education level. The rate of giving only breast milk in the first six months was 45.5% at least and 96.6% at most. The mothers were in tendency to give nutritional supplements to their babies for several reasons. These were usually the reasons like the belief of having insufficient breast milk, staring business life and nipple problems. Breastfeeding problems were mainly wrong breastfeeding positions and nipple problems. Studies, which evaluated breastfeeding habits of the mothers in Turkey, contains important results revealing the dimensions of the subject. According to the results of the study, the problems experienced by mothers about breastfeeding were found to be an important problem in Turkey as well as all over the world.