RESUMO
This study aimed to investigate the effect of breastfeeding on maternal BMI and evaluate mothers' knowledge of infant feeding in Samsun, Turkey. A total of 289 mothers who had children ranging from 0 to 2 years of age and applied to the Family Health Centers were included in the study. The mothers filled out a questionnaire covering sociodemographic characteristics and knowledge on infant feeding. The data was evaluated using the SPSS with the descriptive statistics, the Student t-test, the chi-square test, and multiple linear regression analyses. Most of the mothers, who did never breastfeed their children, were either overweight or obese. As a result of the multiple linear regression analysis, we concluded that maternal age, number of pregnancies, time of first breastfeeding ≥ 12 hours, and early introduction of complementary foods positively affect maternal BMI. Increased maternal BMI is thought to be negatively correlated with decreased breastfeeding of babies immediately after birth.
