Mothers' Infant Feeding Attitudes and The Influencing Factors During The Covid-19 Pandemic Process: Facebook, Instagram Example

Abstract

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the infant feeding attitudes of mothers and the influencing factors during the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic process. Method: This descriptive and cross-sectional study included 402 mothers who were members of social networks such as Facebook or Instagram related to mother and infant health, and were breastfeeding a 0-6 months of baby. Data were collected between March 01.2021 and June 15,2021 using the 'Mother Identification Form', 'IOWA Infant Nutrition Attitude Scale', 'Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS)' and 'Breastfeeding Self-efficacy Scale (BSES)' added to the Google Forms. Results: According to the results of the study, it was found that the total score of infant feeding attitudes was 64.41±5.50 (min=17, max= 85). It was observed that while the mothers' infant feeding attitudes were affected by their education level, self-efficacy level, and spouse-marriage relationship satisfaction (p<0.05),it was not affected from the mothers' occupation, desire for pregnancy, birth history, presence of other children, breastfeeding during pregnancy, and education about breast milk (p>0.05). In addition, it was found that there was a positive correlation between mothers' infant feeding attitudes and self-efficacy levels, and a negative correlation with depression levels (p<0.001). It was found that the infant feeding attitudes of the mothers who were diagnosed with COVID-19 were lower than those who were not diagnosed (p<0.05). Conclusion: During the pandemic, mothers were undecided about breastfeeding. In addition, as the mothers' self-efficacy levels increased and their depression levels decreased, it was observed that their breastfeeding attitudes increased. In this direction, during the pandemic period, mothers should be followed more frequently during pregnancy and postpartum periods to increase breastfeeding and they should be supported more spiritually.