Evaluation of the Breastfeeding Status of Physician Moms in Türkiye and the Problems They Experience at Work

Medicine; considering the difficulty of the education received, it’s the most sacred and difficult profession. Unfortunately, the group that cannot spare time for breastfeeding and is most exposed to mobbing at work is physician mothers. In our study, physician mothers working in different provinces of Türkiye were reached, and data were collected through an online survey. A total of 250 physicians from 43 cities participated in the study. Of these, 38% of the moms had to start working when their baby was between 3-6 months of age, and 34.8% of the moms were able to breastfeed their baby for less than 6 months. This rate of physicians who knew the importance of breast milk and encouraged mothers to breastfeed was quite striking. When physician mothers were asked what difficulties their managers caused them due to pregnancy/birth, 8 main themes emerged. Writing more weekend shifts, increasing working hours and giving more workload, extending the residency, working lower seniority in undesirable departments, psychological intimidation, not giving breastfeeding permission, penalty of not attending academic trainings, penalty of failing the specialty exam. The fact that physicians are frequently exposed to negative mobbing by their supervisors negatively affects the mother-baby relationship and breastfeeding duration. The postpartum working conditions of physicians should be legally regulated. It’s expected that this arrangement will positively affect the quality of life of physicians, their productivity at work, and the psychological and physiological development of their babies. More importantly, our babies will be healthier and happier with breast milk and love.