1. Introduction
During the last decades, the importance of good nutrition
for growth and development of infants has been well
established and is considered as a major public health issue.
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life
provides unique benefits for infants and mothers as well [1].
The Global Performance Monitoring based on the World
Health Organization report on 2013 indicates that only 37%
of infants worldwide and 28% of infants in Iran are fed
exclusively with breast milk in the first 6 months of life [2].
Among factors contributing in failure of exclusive
breastfeeding during first 6 months of life, cesarean section
has been evaluated in several studies [3-13]. Cesarean
section may influence exclusive breastfeeding in various
ways; including anesthetic effects on mother and baby
during first contact, mother's inability to get correct position
for breastfeeding due to pain or having intravenous line and
also impaired Bonding bonding between mother and)newborn due to negative feelings of mother to herself, baby,
physician or relatives [2, 11-16]. On the other hand, feeding
the infants with formula in mothers who undergone cesarean
section is associated with decreased duration of
breastfeeding and may lead to early weaning [17-19]. Since
40% of deliveries in Iran are performed by cesarean section
2), which is higher than global rate, and since the cesarean
section negatively affects exclusive breastfeeding in first 6
months of life, yet few studies have been done in Iran about
factors influencing natural process of breastfeeding in
mothers who undergone cesarean section and the
contributing factors still are not fully understood.In this
study, we assessed the factors affecting cessation of
exclusive breastfeeding in mothers who referred to Sari
Health Centers in order to implement prophylactic measures
and minimize risk factors so that children’s health to be
improved and breastfeeding to be promoted