MATERNAL ATTACHMENT STATES OF MOTHERS OF INFANTS WITH AND WITHOUT GROWTH RETARDATION

This study was carried out to determine the maternal attachment status of mothers of babies with and without developmental delay. The study is a cross-sectional and descriptive study. It was conducted between November 2017 and February 2018 in the Infant Clinic of a Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul. The study sample consisted of mothers of infants aged 1-4 months with and without developmental delay who were treated in the same clinic. Data were collected using a Questionnaire with descriptive information about the baby and family, and the Maternal Attachment Scale. While evaluating the data; descriptive statistics, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, student's t test, Mann-Whitney U test were used. It was determined that the mothers in the groups were closely attached to their babies whether they had developmental delays or not, and the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). However, mothers of babies with developmental delays had more unplanned pregnancies, faced breastfeeding problems and had problems in the care of their babies. It has been observed that mothers who have babies with developmental delays experience inadequacy in baby care and need support. According to this result, it may be beneficial to increase the support given to mothers and their babies for care and to create a suitable environment that will strengthen mother-infant bonding.