Objective: To find the rates of 6-month exclusive breastfeeding practices of teenage mothers and compare them with the rates of 6-month exclusive breastfeeding practices in mothers who are 20 years of age or more.

Material and Method: Three thousand five hundred sixty three normal, postpartum women, who delivered without complications at the HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Medical Center in the Nakhon Nayok Province between 2010 and 2013 were included in this study. At the second day postpartum, the data of latch scores and the data of the practice of exclusive breastfeeding were collected. Telephone follow-ups on the seventh, fourteenth, and forty-fifth postpartum days and at the second, fourth, and sixth month postpartum month were collected and used for exclusive breastfeeding data following discharge. Demographic data included the maternal age, parity, gestational age, marital status, occupation, religion, route of delivery, estimated blood loss, body mass index, nipple length, and the child’s birth weight. The collected data was analyzed by the t-test, Chi-square, and odds ratio with 95% confidence interval.

Results: The percentage of teenage pregnancies was at 14.8% (527 cases). On postpartum day 2, the percentage of latch scores of 8 or less was 66.4%. At the seventh, fourteenth, and forty-fifth day and at the second, fourth, and sixth months postpartum, the exclusive breastfeeding rates were 88.5, 78.5, 57.6, 43.1, 32.9, and 27.0%, respectively. Comparison of the 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rates between teenage mothers and mothers 20 years of age or older were not statistically significant (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rate of teenage mothers was at 27.0% and had no significant differences from the rates of mothers 20 years of age or more.

Keywords: Teenage pregnancies, Exclusive breastfeeding, Latch score