Determination of Knowledge Levels of Mothers on Infant Nutrition and Use of Herbal Products

Background: Infancy nutrition is important for the smooth growth and development of the baby. In this period, the importance of breast milk and alternative treatment methods are more oriented to complaints such as sleep, gas/bloating and fever in infants. This study was conducted to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers with babies aged 0-2 years living in Karabük province about infant nutrition and the use of herbs in the problems they encounter. Methods: The study included 121 volunteer mothers with infants aged 0-2 years in Karabük. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire containing 35 questions about sociodemographic characteristics, infant nutrition and herbal product use. Percentage and frequency distributions were used to analyze the data, and Student t test and ANOVA were used to evaluate the parameters with normal distribution. Results: In the study, it was determined that 37.2% of the infants were exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months, 40.5% had a total breastfeeding duration of 7-12 months, 53.7% started complementary feeding after the 6th month, 62% of the mothers preferred medical treatment, 19.8% preferred herbal treatment and 18.2% preferred both treatment methods. It was observed that there was a statistical relationship between sociodemographic characteristics such as education level, age range, number of children in the family, BMI of the mother, duration of breastfeeding and herbal product use (p