Is There a Relationship between Breastfeeding Status and Life Style
Changes, Eating Behaviors, Attitudes, and Orthorexia Nervosa tendencies
of Mothers? A Web Based Study
Abstract
Objective: It was aimed to compare the breastfeeding status and healthy
life style changes, eating behaviors, attitudes, and orthorectic
tendencies of mothers. Materials and Methods: All volunteered mothers
who have a child between the ages of 0 and 2 were included in this
cross-sectional study. 514 individuals were included. Five parted
questionnaire and “ORTO-11” test and “Eating Attitude Test” was
used. Results: A statistically significant relationship was found
between breastfeeding status and working status and professions of
mothers. Mothers who did not breastfeed, skipped main meal more
frequently, and smoking and occasional alcohol consumption was higher.
The mean score of the participants on the ORTO-11 scale was 25.09 ±
4.80, EAT-40 scale mean score was 18.80 ± 10.42. High risk in eating
attitudes was found in 12.0% of all participants. It was observed that
mothers who did not breastfeed were mostly in high risk group in terms
of eating attitude. Conclusion: Mothers who did not breastfeed were
mostly in high risk group in terms of eating attitude compared to
breastfeeding mothers. It is of great importance that healthcare
professionals organize trainings for increasing the general level of
knowledge of mothers and provide healthy living and breastfeeding
counseling.