Mothers’ Views on Donor Milk and Human Milk Banks

Abstract

Aim: The goal of this study is to find out what factors affect mothers’ knowledge and perspectives about wet-nursing and human milk banking. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, and comparative research project. 295 mothers volunteered to take part in the study. The data was gathered utilizing a data collection form that included information on wet-nursing and human milk banking, as well as a face-to-face interview. The collected data was analyzed in a computer program. Significance was accepted as p 0.05. Results: The study was completed with 295 women with a mean age of 27 years. It was determined that 90.2% of the women had never breastfed before, 46.8% had an only child, and 68.5% were in the neonatal period. It was determined that 67.5% of the women do not cause any religious problems, and more than half of them want milk banking and donate milk to banks. It was determined that the views of women on breastfeeding and breast milk banking were affected by their age, education, and working status (p<0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that women in Turkey want their babies to receive breast milk. Their first choice is their own milk, and if their milk is not enough, they can apply to milk mothers or breast milk banks. In our country, as in other countries, families should be informed that breast milk is needed for babies to be healthy, and that breast milk can be obtained from banks if it is clean and safe.