The Influences of Antenatal Care, Postnatal Care and Early Initiation of Breastfeeding on an Exclusive Breastfeeding Pattern in the Working Area of Manukan Kulon Public Health Center at Surabaya City

Abstract

Exclusive breastfeeding is very important for babies to maintain their immune system, brain intelligence,
emotion stability and to protect babies from various diseases that are causes of death. Breastfeeding will
also benefit the mother, which will reduce blood loss during menstruation, restore maternal weight as before
pregnancy, reduce the risk of breast cancer, and uterine cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine the
influences of antenatal care, postnatal care and early initiation of breastfeeding on an exclusive breastfeeding
pattern. The samples used in this study were mothers who had babies aged 7-12 months in June to August
2018 as many as 48 respondents in the working area of Manukan Kulon Health Center in Surabaya. This
study used the descriptive and bivariate analyses. The obtained results were antenatal care (p = 0.001),
postnatal care (p = 0.002) and early initiation of breastfeeding (p = 0,000). During pregnancy the majority of
mothers make complete antenatal care visits with a frequency of 10 times, antenatal care is very important
for mothers, especially the pattern of breastfeeding. In addition to the importance of antenatal care visits,
mothers who have given birth and are entering the postnatal care phase are required to make postnatal care
visits. Socialization from health workers and the support of closest people are required in order to achieve
the exclusive breastfeeding.