The Effects of Breastfeeding-Promoting Program Within 48 Hours Post Cesarean Section on Mother's Breastfeeding Behavior and Infant's Breastfeeding Suckling Behavior at Songklanagarind Hospital

Abstract

The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was to study the effect of breastfeeding- promoting program on mother's breastfeeding behavior and infant's breast-feeding suckling behavior. Fifty-two mothers delivered the first child by cesarean section at Songklanagarind hospital were randomly assigned into 2 groups. The control group was received a routine nursing care while the experimental group was received both routine nursing care and breastfeeding-promoting program. The intervention instrument was the breastfeeding-promoting program which consisted of a handbook and VCD. The data were collected using 1) the mother’s breastfeeding behavior test consisted of the breastfeeding knowledge questionnaire and the observation form of mother's breastfeeding skill and 2) the observation form of infant's suckling behavior. The instruments were validated by three experts. The K-R 20 was used with the breastfeeding knowledge questionnaire and the inter-rater method was used with the observation form of mother's breastfeeding skill and the observation form of infant's suckling behavior. Their reliability were 0.84, 0.87, and 0.88, respectively. Frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and the independent t-test were used to analyze the data.

The results revealed that in the control group, the means of mother's breastfeeding behavior was at a good level (M = 37.27, SD = 1.18) and infant's breast-feeding suckling behavior was at a good level (M= 10.31, SD = 3.97) whereas, the experimental group had a very good level of mother's breastfeeding behavior (M= 54.00, SD = 1.94) and a very good level of infant's breast-feeding suckling behavior (M= 15.77, SD = 5.75). The means of mother’s breastfeeding behavior and infant’s breast-feeding suckling behavior were statistically significant different between groups (t = -14.06, -6.73; p < 0.05). It was suggested that the hospital should distribute the breastfeeding-promoting program to all postpartum units for improving the quality of nursing care.