comparison of breastfeeding self-efficacy between exclusive and non-exclusive breastfeeding in postpartum women

Background: breastfeeding self-efficacy is an important factor in initiating and continuing breastfeeding. objectives: the present study aimed to compare breastfeeding self-efficacy between exclusive and non-exclusive breastfeeding in postpartum women.methods: this descriptive comparative study was conducted on 228 women hospitalized in the social security hospital of zahedan who had given birth 24 hours earlier. sampling was performed using a convenience method from march to june 2024. data were collected using a demographic-midwifery questionnaire and the breastfeeding self-efficacy scale-short form (bses-sf). data analysis was carried out using spss version 22 software, employing the mann-whitney u and chi-square tests.results: the mean (sd) age of the women was 28.14 (6.7) years. most participants were housewives (92.54%) and had a diploma or lower level of education (80.26%). the mean (sd) score of breastfeeding self-efficacy was higher in women with exclusive feeding than in those with non-exclusive feeding [49.11 (11) vs 36.9 (11.7)]. there was a statistically significant difference between the exclusive and non-exclusive feeding groups regarding breastfeeding self-efficacy (p=0.000), type of delivery (p=0.034), infant’s gender (p=0.000), and the number of breastfeeding per day (p=0.036).conclusion: women who gave birth while exclusively breastfeeding had higher breastfeeding self-efficacy than those who breastfed non-exclusively. to enhance breastfeeding self-efficacy, it is recommended to develop appropriate strategies for initiating and continuing breastfeeding.