Investigating the views of mothers with late premature babies hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit in relation to breastfeeding facilities and obstacles

Breastfeeding is a natural and standard way to feed all babies, and it is especially important for late premature babies. However, breastfeeding in this group of infants is challenging and the factors affecting their nutrition are complex and there are still many uncertainties in this regard. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the facilities and barriers to breastfeeding delayed premature infants from the mothers' point of view.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the neonatal intensive care unit of Iranshahr hospital on 150 mothers with late premature babies who were eligible for the study, using a simple random method. Facilitating factors and inhibiting factors of breastfeeding were completed through interviews with mothers at the time of discharge. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS V21 software using descriptive statistics (frequency-percentage) and the chi-square test.

The findings showed that the three factors that facilitate breastfeeding, in order of highest frequency, include the mother's previous breastfeeding experiences (56 percent), support from family members (37.3 percent), and the presence of facilities needed by mothers in the ward (27.4 percent). and the three obstacles, in the order of the highest frequency, include multiple diseases or discomfort in the baby (88.7%), lack of breastfeeding facilities (80%), and mother's stress due to the baby's clinical conditions (49.3%).

According to the present results, strengthening the support of mothers by the treatment team and family and providing breastfeeding facilities in the department can play an effective role in facilitating breastfeeding and providing information about the clinical conditions of the baby and ongoing interventions to mothers to resolve Barriers to breastfeeding seem necessary.