Finding The Needs of Breastfeeding Mother Accompaniment for Successful Exclusive Breastfeeding Until 6 Months in Semarang City: A Mixed Method

Abstract

Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life is important to prevent nutritional problems. WHO has recommended that all babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life. However, its practice in Indonesia is not optimal yet (38%). The aim of this study to assess the characteristics of breastfeeding accompaniment needed by exclusive breastfeeding mothers for the success of exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months. This study used mixed methods, both a cross-sectional survey of 148 mothers breastfeeding infants aged over six months in five PHCs with low level of exclusive breastfeeding coverage and unstructured interviews were conducted by ten PHC midwives in five PHC areas. Most of breastfeeding mothers were housewives, multipara, secondary education, and only (33,8%) breastfeed exclusively. The characteristics of accompaniment needed included scheduled home visits by companion (73.0%), providing information with direct practice by companion and according to the problems experienced by the mothers (77.8%), and accompaniment conducted 0-6 postpartum (85.8%). The qualitative findings that home visits to postpartum mothers by companion carried out only once or twice during the postpartum period with a focus on infant health. In conclusion, most of breastfeeding mothers still need accompaniment during the breastfeeding exclusive period or until 6 months postpartum.