Investigation of the Relationship Between Maternal Attachment and Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy and Affecting Factors in Turkish Sample

This research aimed to investigate the factors affecting the perception of mothers about breastfeeding self-efficacy and their maternal attachment between the fourth and eighth postnatal weeks and their relation. This research, which is descriptive, was conducted on 351 postpartum women between December 2017–2018. The study used the Mother Descriptive Information Form, Maternal Attachment Inventory (MAI), and the Short Form of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (BSES-SF). It was found that, mothers' mean scores on the BSES-SF and MAI were affected by their educational level, the status of regular health checkups during the last pregnancy, the number of visits for health checkups during the last pregnancy, the place where they held their babies, the status of breastfeeding previous babies, prenatal breastfeeding training, the status of finding their own breast milk sufficient, the time when they first breastfed the baby, the first food the baby received, the status of being willing to breastfeed, the status of having fatigue due to breastfeeding, the planned duration of breastfeeding, the status of using additional infant formula, and the status of having a close relative or friend also breastfeeding. It was also determined that there was a low positive relationship between breastfeeding self-efficacy and maternal attachment. The level of breastfeeding self-efficacy and maternal attachment status of mothers should be determined in the postpartum period, and health personnel should intervene on alterable factors that adversely affect breastfeeding self-efficacy and attachment status, especially in mothers at risk. •This study provides a guide for explaining the relationship between maternal attachment and breastfeeding self-efficacy.•It was determined that there was a weak positive relationship between breastfeeding self-efficacy and maternal attachment.•Health personnel should intervene on alterable factors that adversely affect breastfeeding self-efficacy and attachment status.