Breastfeeding frequency of primary healthcare professionals and effective factors

Background To determine the frequency of breastfeeding of mothers working in primary care, the differences between different employment groups, and the effective factors. Methods This descriptive research study was conducted with a self‐report online survey design. The snowball sampling method was used for the sample selection, and 151 family physicians and 126 family health professionals were included in the study during the research period (June 2019‐December 2019). A 35‐item survey was used to collect data. The response rate was 44.9% (49.5% family physicians/40.3% family health professionals). Results The mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 3.9 ± 2.0 months, and the mean duration of total breastfeeding was 16.7 ± 8.5 months. There was no significant difference between the family physicians and family health professionals in terms of exclusive breastfeeding (P = .580) and total breastfeeding (P = .325) durations. The most common reasons for weaning were reduced milk supply (25.6%) and not being able to use breastfeeding leave (23.1%) due to problems at work. Of the sample, 41.3% had problems with their coworkers and 41.9% had problems related to patient care when taking breastfeeding leave. Working in a baby‐friendly centre (P = .01), prolonged exclusive breastfeeding (P