The effect of breastfeeding training on exclusive breastfeeding: a randomized controlled trial

Introduction: Although exclusive breastfeeding is very beneficial for children's and mothers' health, a limited number of infants are exclusively breastfed for 6 months. Aim: This randomized controlled intervention study aims to determine the effect of breastfeeding training on mothers' knowledge, behaviors, and exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. Materials and methods: The participants were selected randomly for training (n = 60) and control groups (n = 60) among the pregnant women admitted to the obstetrics and gynecology polyclinics of a baby-friendly hospital. The training group received breastfeeding training during the prenatal and postnatal periods. The data were collected using a questionnaire during admission and at the postpartum 1st and 24th weeks through face-to-face interviews. The study was completed with 34 and 30 mother-infant pairs in the training and control groups, respectively. Analyzed using the chi-square, Student t, Mann-Whitney U, and Wilcoxon t-tests. Results: The difference between the number of correct answers in pre- and posttest was higher in the training group (four questions) than in the control group (two questions) (p < .001). The number of mothers exclusively breastfeeding for 6 months was significantly higher in the training group (26.5%) than in the control group (3.3%) (p = .015). The median of the exclusive breastfeeding period was longer in the training group (5 months) than in the control group (4 months) (p = .013). Conclusion: Training and supporting pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers on breastfeeding increased their knowledge, the period of exclusive breastfeeding, and the rate of 6-month exclusive breastfeeding.