Abstract:
Exclusive breastfeeding is important for infant health during the first 6 months.
In Thailand, the 30 % target leve3l of exclusive breastfeeding for at least 4
months has not been reached, especially in working mothers who tend to have a
short duration of breastfeeding. Therefore the promotion, support and protection
of breastfeeding among working mothers is most import. This study was a
retrospective study aimed at studying the relationship between stress, factors
influencing breastfeeding such as knowledge, attitude, social support for breast -
feeding and exclusive breastfeeding. The subjects were 148 primipara mothers
with an infant between 4-6 months of age who worked outside the home. The
infants were brought by mothers for a regular check up or immunization at the
Out Patient Department in Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok. Data were collected by
interview during 1st July to 30th November 2003.
Results showed that knowledge and attitude of breastfeeding had a positive
relationship with exclusive breastfeeding ( r = 0.237, p < 0.01 and r = 0.203,
p < 0.05, respectively ) while there was no significant relationship between maternal
stress and social support for breastfeeding with exclusive breastfeeding ( p > 0.05 ).
These finding suggests that health care providers should promote exclusive
breastfeeding, providing the correct knowledge and develop positive attitude
towards breastfeeding for mothers during pregnancy and further to postpartum
breastfeeding. Working mothers should receive support to continue breastfeeding
when they return to work.