Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine and analyse factors related to the actual status and practice of breast-feeding during an infant period to grasp elements detrimental to breast-feeding and, therefore, provide basic information useful for its effective practice and encouragement. Method: From April 1 to June 30, 2001, this study was carried out with the mothers of 337 who were 6 months old, as of the surveyed date, of infants born in 2002 and registered in Seongju-gun Public Health Center, Gyeongsangbug-do Province. The method for its survey included both of the visiting and telephone interviews, and questions were mainly about the mothers' general characteristics(3 questions), infants' general characteristics(3 questions), environmental characteristics of infant delivery( 4 questions), support to breast-feeding(4 questions), understanding of breast-feeding(5 questions), and feeding type during the 1 to 6-month period after birth. Result: 1. The feeding type during the I-month period after birth showed that the breast-feeding accounted for 42.4%, which was higher than dry milk-feeding(30%) or mixed milk-feeding(26.8%). However, it began to be lower than the dry milk-feeding from the 2-month period after birth. During the 6-month period, the breast-feeding accounted for 28.6% which was lower than 56.5% of the dry milk-feeding. 2. The mothers who were encouraged by their delivery clinic to and were educated to breast-feed infants accounted for 55.4% and 41.4%, respectively, which were relatively low. The understanding of breast-feeding indicated that the responses were positive from the view point of mother ＆ infant health, but negative from mother's physical form. 3. It was shown that the lower the educational background of mother(p〈0.05) and the higher the unemployment of mother(p〈0.001), the higher the positive understanding of breast-feeding, and that the higher the entire support to breast-feeding, the more positive their understanding. 4. It was also shown that the lower the educational background of mother(p〈0.05), the higher the unemployment of mother(p〈0.001), the more the experience in breast-feeding at a delivery clinic(p〈0.01) and the faster the initial feeding(p〈0.001), the higher the rate of breast-feeding. 5. The factor having an effect on breast-feeding included a delivery clinic's encouragement to breast-feed(p〈0.001), understanding of breast-feeding(p〈0.01), father's comment on feeding method(p〈0.05) and mother's employment(p〈0.05). Discussion: In order to encourage the breast-feeding, as shown above, it is required, fist of all, to offer pregnant women an education about importance and excellence of breast-feeding and its appropriate method before delivery in advance to result in a positive comprehension of the breast-feeding. To do that, both the publicity activities and program development designed to encourage the breast-feeding must be performed in advance at the government level. In addition to that, the mother-infant space as ‘rooming-in’ available for breast-feeding immediately after delivery must be prepared on the basis of legal and administrative support. Finally, female employees' leave after childbirth must be performed for the purpose of productive welfare and circumstances also be prepared for breast-feeding, such as a children's home at work.