Investigation of Transition to Complementary Food in Children Under 24 Months: A Study in Physician Mothers

Abstract

Aim: In our study, we aimed to evaluate the behavior and practices of the children of the physician group, who is a role model in the society, during the transition to complementary food. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was applied to mothers with 0-24 month old children (n: 417) in Facebook physician groups between May and August 2020. Exclusive breastfeeding status of the mothers for six months and their behaviors during the complementary food transition period were considered as dependent variables. Descriptive analysis and Chi-square test were used. Results: In our study, the mean age of physician mothers was 33.57±3.74. The number of physicians who exclusively breastfed in the first six months was 204 (53.3%), and the number of physicians who started complementary food in the first 6 months was 124 (31.6%). The mean time to start solid food was 5.74±0.59 months. In our study, 45.8% of physician mothers stated that they gave yogurt to their babies first, and 73.8% stated that their babies easily ate complementary foods when they were first given. While the baby's favorite foods were yogurt (29.0%) and fruit (28.1%), the foods that the baby refused to eat the most were vegetables with 58.2%. The rate of mothers exclusively breastfed for the first six months was found to be statistically significantly higher in mothers whose first food given to the baby was breast milk (p= 0.004). Conclusion: The rate of exclusive breastfeeding of physician mothers is high. Behaviors in the transition period to additional food support the baby.