Breast milk expression knowledge of school of medicine and faculty of health sciences students

Abstract

Background: When direct breastfeeding of the mother’s breast is not possible, expressing of human milk should be provided. Education and support to the mothers for breastfeeding by health care professionals have improved breastfeeding initiation and duration. The aim of the study was to determine the knowledge of the students of Gaziantep University School of Medicine and Faculty of Health Sciences about breast milk expression.

Methods: This questionnaire based, cross-sectional study was performed in 857 students between March 2012 and June 2012.

Results: The mean age of the participants (493 female/364 male) was 21.1 ± 2.0 years (16-28). The eighty-six percent (736) of the participants heard something about expression of breast milk. The majority of these students agreed that breast milk can be expressed (642/736, 87.2%) and stored (595/736, 80.8%). The seventy-six percent (452/595) of the students stated that, glass container should be used to store the expressed milk. Most of the students (549/736, 74.6%) specified that breast milk expression is done by manual pump; followed by manual (277/736, 37.6%) and by electric pump (241/736, 32.7%). Most of the students mentioned to give the expressed breast milk with a bottle, by heating in warm water (440/595, 73.94%; 418/595, 70.25%; respectively).

Conclusion: These findings provide insight into the educational program of the School of Medicine and Faculty of Health Sciences for breast milk expression. The knowledge level of our students for breast milk expression is encouraging, despite inadequate experience in education programs.