Cultural values that affect breast-feeding
B. Demirtas, L. Taskin,
B. Ergöcmen
Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
This research is a qualitative
study which was done to determine the cultural values that affect the
breast-feeding behaviors of the mothers. 293 mothers constituted the population
of the research. 24 mothers who had 4 to 24 month-old babies were sampled from
this population. The research data were collected by in-depth interviews by
using an interview guide. The data were assessed through content analysis. The
findings obtained were grouped into eight main themes: the baby’s first feeding
after birth, present breast-feeding status, the meaning of the breast-feeding to
the mother, breast-feeding problems, starting supplemental food, weaning
practices, the mother’s own thoughts on the benefits of the breast-feeding, her
information sources pertaining to breast-feeding. In the study, it was found out
that the mothers who became aware of the benefit and importance of the colostrum
willingly breast-fed their babies in the early postpartum period and that the
practice of feeding from one breast was widespread because they believed that it
was generally enough for the baby to be full. In this behavior, they adopted
experienced mothers as role models. The mothers who weaned during pregnancy
thought that the milk produced in this period got sour, could poison the baby
and was forbidden by religion. It was determined that the older generation
recommended that baby girls should not be breast-fed for a long time. Some
mothers thought that breast-feeding was a duty. It was determined that a
religious belief underlied these thoughts. They also stated that they got
embarrassed when they had to breast-feed in public. Mothers hesitated to use
cream to treat nipple trauma because they thought that cream could be harmful to
the baby. It was determined that mothers of all education levels and of all ages
preferred a bit plump babies. The older generation encouraged mothers to start
supplemental food early. Mothers thought that babies would be unwilling and
selective to eat supplemental food if they did not start supplemental food early.
Babies were given water before six months because they were thought to need
water. The older generation and neighbors encouraged mothers to wean before the
baby was one year old. In accordance with these research results,
recommendations for organizing educational programs related to breast-feeding by
taking the target group’s cultural values into account, for health workers to
emphasize the benefit and importance of the colostrum in particular, for giving
more coverage to breast-feeding and baby feeding programs in media, for the
older generation to be targeted in educational programs as well, for increasing
the influence and importance of the home visits in the primary health services,
for also covering the cultural aspect of the breast-feeding in nursing education
were made.