on the relationship between social support and early breastfeeding termination

Background: there is no substitute to mother breastfeeding; on the one hand, mothers need all-out support, especially in the first days after delivery, which is one of the effective factors for women’s success in breastfeeding. objectives: the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between social support and early termination of breastfeeding. methods: this retrospective study examined the degree of social support for mothers embarking on early termination of breastfeeding. it covered a group of 235 individuals (150 individuals in the control group and 85 in the experimental group) as its participants. the data were collected through three separate questionnaires: the multidimensional scale of perceived social support questionnaire, the demographic questionnaire and the researcher-made questionnaire of evaluation of breastfeeding. the t-test, mann-whitney, chi-square and logistic regression tests were used for analysis by spss 16. results: the results revealed that compared to mothers in the experimental group, unwanted pregnancies (p=0.001) and caesarian section deliveries (p=0.007) were significantly more observed in the control group mothers. those characterized by termination of breastfeeding received (about 22 times) weaker social support compared to the breastfeeding mothers (p<0.001, or~22). furthermore, the first breastfeeding upon birth was less (about 0.211 times) observed among the experimental group mothers than the group of mothers characterized by breastfeeding (p=0.006, or~0.211). conclusion: husband encouragement and support and high social support are highly effective in successful breastfeeding and in this line, all-out support for mother, including support by family and society, seem very necessary.