Maternal Affectivity and their Infants Feeding Pattern among Referrers to Health Care Centers in Rafsanjan in 2011

Continuity of breast-feeding up to 6 months may be associated with some challenges for some mothers. Probably، the maternal personal characteristics such as their emotions can change the breast-feeding patterns. The aim of this study was to determine maternal affectivity and the pattern of breast-feeding. In this cross-sectional study، affectivity and beast-feeding patterns of 412 mothers was surveyed by Watson''s PANAS-X and researcher made questionnaires and through face to face interviews. Systematic random sampling was done by using health care centers list in last 6 months. Data was analyzed using chi-square test، t-test، Fisher''s exact and one way ANOVA test. Overall 69. 5% mothers had exclusive breast-feeding for 6 months. Mothers who had preterm infants had higher mean score of negative affectivity (p=0. 042) and those who had exclusively breast-feeding had lower mean score of negative affectivity (p=0. 005). The mean scores of positive affectivity in mothers who had been started the first breast-feeding during the first hour after birth، were higher (p= 0. 040). Mothers with negative affectivity might be considered as a predictive factor for her breast-feeding performance.