All issues > Volume 44(4); 2001

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 2001;44(4):389-396. Published online April 15, 2001.

A Survey on the Factors of Breast Feeding Failure Related to the Role of Medical Personnels

Min Jung MJ Cho¹, Cheong Mi CM Cheon², Jeong Kyung JK Seo³, Son Moon SM Shin²

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Taegu, Korea
²Department of Pediatrics, Sung Kyun Kwan University School of Medicine, Samsung Cheil Hospital, Seoul, Korea
³Department of Pediatrics, Sung Kyun Kwan University School of Medicine, Masan Samsung Hospital, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Purpose
: The reasons for breast feeding failure within the first month of birth were related to inappropriate handling of problems in breast feeding. We investigated common reasons for the failure during the neonatal period and assessed medical personnels` attempts to solve them.
Methods
: We conducted a survey with a prepared questionnaire on one-hundred-twenty mothers who failed in breast feeding within the first month after delivery. They were selected among those who brought their infants to local private clinics or general hospitals in Taegu from July to August 1999.
Results
: The breast feeding rate at the starting time of feeding after delivery was significantly higher in the infants who were born at local clinics than general hospitals(52.7% vs 31.8%, P< 0.05), and higher with rooming-in service than routine nursery care(62.1% vs 31.8%, P<0.05). Most with routine nursery care(79.7%) had to feed breast milk at the appointed time. As a consequence, hospital policy was inconvenient for breast feeding. 51.7 per cent of the responders did not even try breast feeding until discharge from hospitals. Information about breast feeding were obtained mainly from their mothers` advice(39.3%). And it was only 7.7 per cent of the responders who obtained information from physicians. The common reasons for breast feeding failure within the first month were insufficient secretion of milk(36.7%), looser stool(16.7%), and inverted nipple(15%), which could have been solved with adequate support and advice from medical personnel.
Conclusion
: To increase the breast feeding rate, medical personnel should actively recommend breast feeding as early as possible after delivery, should educate mothers on the problems that may arise during breast feeding, and should make the hospital environment more convenient for breast feeding.

Keywords :Breast feeding failure