Investigating the relationship between mothers’ ability to breastfeed and exclusive breastfeeding in infants

Empowering parents by hospital staff and their participation in infant care is a method that can significantly reduce the parents’ feelings of stress and insecurity. Concerning the importance of breastfeeding, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between maternal empowerment in breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding of infants. This descriptive cross-sectional study, was conducted on 150 mothers with infants. The study population consisted of mothers from rural areas around Kermanshah Province who referred to the existing health centers for healthcare services. a total of 150 mothers referred to the health centers were included in this study. The results showed that most of the mothers were housewives with a rate of 60% and also had incentives for breastfeeding with a rate of 64.7%. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference between all the fields of the used questionnaire and the overall score of the breastfeeding ability questionnaire in the exclusive (M=157.32, SD=36.92) and non-exclusive (M=87, SD=6.87) breastfeeding group. Likewise, in all items, the score obtained in the exclusive feeding group with breast milk was higher (p 0.05). The results also highlighted the fact that the demographic characteristics of the mothers are effective on EBF rate. Therefore, it is suggested to further do practical educational interventions with the focus on the benefits of breastfeeding.