Objective: To investigate the association of the number of infant feeding positions on exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months postpartum period.

Material and Method: The subjects were primiparous women who delivered without complications and intended to breastfeed their newborns at least six months at the HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sririndhorn Medical Center in Nakhon Nayok Province, Thailand, between May 2012 and April 2013. On the first day postpartum, the mothers had received instructions on four infant feeding positions. These included the cradle, cross cradle, football carry, and side-lying positions, and all were practiced. The mothers were assessed on their use of the numbers of infant feeding positions at the second day postpartum prior to their discharge. Telephone follow-ups at the second, fourth, and sixth month postpartum periods were collected and used for exclusive breastfeeding data collection following discharge. Demographic data and exclusive breastfeeding rates were analyzed by Chi-square test, one-way ANOVA test, and relative risk with a 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results: Five hundred forty five primiparous women were enrolled in the present study. The data showed that the 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rates of the studied group who could breastfeed by one, two, three, and four positions, had statistically significant differences (p-value <0.05). The relative risks for exclusive breastfeeding rates between the mothers who used two infant breastfeeding positions or more and the mothers who used only one position were 1.68 (95% CI 1.45-1.95) at the 2-month, 1.69 (95% CI 1.38-2.09) at the 4-month, and 1.51 (95% CI 1.18-1.94) at the 6-month postpartum periods.

Conclusion: The number of infant breastfeeding positions had an association with the exclusive breastfeeding rates during the six months postpartum period.

Keywords: Infant breastfeeding position, Breastfeeding, Exclusive breastfeeding