The effect of prenatal counseling on breastfeeding self-efficacy and frequency of breastfeeding problems in mothers with previous unsuccessful breastfeeding: a randomized controlled clinical trial

Background Breastfeeding is one of the most important interfering factors in infants' health. Monitoring mothers' performance and providing them with the feedback helps to increase their self-efficacy, interest in learning, and level of performance. The present research evaluates the effect of prenatal counseling on the breastfeeding self-efficacy and frequency of breastfeeding problems in mothers with previous unsuccessful breastfeeding. Methods This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 108 pregnant women with unsuccessful breastfeeding in Tabriz health centers during 2017-2018. The participants were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group had four prenatal counseling sessions and the controls only received routine care. Then, the mothers who gave birth to their children received a counseling session up to 4 months after the delivery. The Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy (BSES) questionnaire and the frequency of breast feeding problems checklist on the 15th day, and 2nd and 4th month were completed both by the intervention and control groups. Results The mean (SD) of breastfeeding self-efficacy was 119.3 (10.5), 128.3 (8.3) and 133.8 (10.3) in the intervention group and 105.3 (16.1), 105.7 (19.7) and 109.4 (24.7) in the control group on the 15th day, 2nd and 4th month after the delivery, respectively. There was a significant difference in terms of breastfeeding self-efficacy between intervention and control group on the 15th day (p < 0.001), and 2nd (p < 0.001) and 4th (p < 0.001) month after the delivery. The frequency of breastfeeding problems on the 15th (p = 0.008), 2nd (p < 0.001) and 4th (p < 0.001) after the delivery was significantly different in most cases of the intervention group when compared to the controls. Conclusion The results indicated that prenatal counseling can increase mothers' breastfeeding self-efficacy and solves most breastfeeding problems during postpartum period.