Abstract

The infant's refusal to breastfeed can be a stressful and concerning matter for a mother. This study aimed to investigate the frequency and factors leading to nursing strikes in Rafsanjan city. This descriptive study was performed on infants who had been referred to the pediatrician's office with a complaint of a nursing strike. The research sample included 70 infants, and all the required data, including the causes of the nursing strike and the demographic information of the mother and the infant, were collected using a checklist. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20 was used to analyze the data. The percentage was used to express qualitative indices, and the mean and standard deviation were used to express quantitative indices. The results showed that the most common factors contributing to the infants' breast refusal were playfulness and distraction (50%) and recent vaccinations in the last 12 days (48.6%). Besides, the most common maternal factors affecting breast refusal were level of education (67.1%), recent acute stress (41.4%), and inadequate milk production (35.7%). The results of the present study showed that playfulness and distraction of the baby, recent vaccination, use of a pacifier, level of education and recent stress of the mother, breastfeeding program, and insufficient milk production are the most common reasons for nursing strikes.