Investigation of Feeding Patterns of Babies Born with Caesarean for the First Six Month

Aim: The research was done to examine the nutrition ways of babies born with cesarean delivery for the first six months. Material and Methods: The study was conducted between February 2016 and May 2017 with 152 mothers determined by simple random sampling method, which had a 7-12 months old baby who applied to the Efeler Number 1 Family Health Center No in Aydin province center. Descriptive statistics were calculated and Pearson Chi-square, Fisher-Freeman-Halton (post hoc Bonferroni method) and Fisher Exact tests were used in data analysis. Results: Most of the mothers (97.4%) stated that they got training about feeding babies and majority of these mothers (65.1%) got that training mostly from midwifes. It was seen that 69.7% of the mothers gave teat to their babies in the first six months. All of mothers (100%) were breastfeeding their babies in the first six months. 38.8% of babies were started to breastfeed within the first 2 hours and only 16.4% within the first half hour. It was found that 66.4% of participants fed their babies with feeding bottle and 47.4% of them fed their babies with spoon. In the first six months 78.9% of the babies were given water, 55.9% of them were given baby food and 25.7% of them were given pot liquor. Most of the mothers stated inadequacy of breast milk as the reason of giving supplementary food (47.4%). The spoon using rate of fathers with the elementary level of education for babies in the first six months is 66.7%. The rate of giving milk pudding in the first six months was found 22.5% in boys but 9.9% in girls, and it was seen that the differences were statistically significant (p<0.005 for each). Conclusion: This research revealed that all mothers participating in the study breastfed their babies, but the rate of providing only supplementary food in the first six months was high for several reasons. Supporting the initiation of breastfeeding in the early period after caesarean section and providing effective breastfeeding consultancy services can contribute to the improvement of infant health