ABSTRACT
Objective: There are several factors in parental infant feeding decisions including intention to breastfeed which is a strong predictor of initiation and duration of breastfeeding. We aimed to investigate the association between obesity and breastfeeding performance to help further attempts in public health intercession for maternal obesity control. We also compared breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding women regarding other demographic and clinical characteristics. Material and Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted between December 2019 and February 2020 in the University of Health Sciences, İstanbul Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Health Training and Research Medical Center. All postpartum patients who had delivered in the past 48 hours and were still hospitalized at our center were included. Results: Obese and non-obese groups were similar in terms of age, gravidity, parity, medical history, socioeconomic condition, and education level. Breastfeeding presence, frequency and duration did not show a significant difference between groups. When the breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding patients regarding were compared their clinical and demographic characteristics, there was no significant difference between the groups except for gravidity, parity, and postpartum complication. Among them, 94.4% of patients who were breastfeeding had the wish to breastfeed and 96.1% had a history of breastfeeding in their prior pregnancies. Conclusion: Since obesity is a variable that can affect breastfeeding performance, and can have secondary effects on breastfeeding through postpartum complications, the importance of pre-pregnancy weight and weight gain during pregnancy should be shared with patients in prenatal counseling.