engleski

Mother's sense of coherence and exclusive breastfeeding in the maternity hospital

Background: Sense of coherence (SOC) is seen as an important health promoting factor which facilitates successful coping with a given challenge. Women with higher SOC may be more capable of dealing with the demands of breastfeeding. However, the relationship between mother’s SOC and breastfeeding outcomes is not known. Aim: To investigate the association between mother’s SOC and exclusive breastfeeding in the maternity hospital (first 48 hours after birth). Methods: A cohort sample of 772 breastfeeding women who gave birth to a healthy, singleton, term newborn infant was recruited from a Baby-Friendly hospital in Croatia, between October, 2010, and January, 2011. In-hospital mothers completed the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-13), and self-report questionnaire on demographic and perinatal variables. Data regarding infant feeding method were collected from the newborns’ medical records. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine association between mother’s SOC and exclusive breastfeeding after adjusting for maternal age, education, parity, and mode of delivery. Results: During the first 48 hours after birth 80.4% of mothers were exclusively breastfed, and 19.6% were partially breastfed (i.e. infants received formula supplementation in addition to breast milk). Compared to women with a low SOC (score < 56), women with a high SOC (score > 71 ; adjusted odds ratio [OR] 4.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.26-7.99) and moderate SOC (score 56-71 ; adjusted OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.29-3.19) were more likely to exclusively breastfeed. Women with cesarean delivery (AOR 0.14, 95% CI 0.09-0.22) were less likely to exclusively breastfeed. Conclusion: The results suggest that mother’s SOC is an important psychosocial variable affecting early breastfeeding outcomes. Identifying mothers with low SOC may assist health professionals in their work on psychosocial aspects of breastfeeding support.

breastfeeding ; maternity hospital ; sense of coherence

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