Mothers' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding probiotic use during pregnancy and for their infants in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE This study was conducted to determine mothers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding probiotic use during pregnancy and for infants between six months and two years old. DESIGN The study had a cross-sectional design, and the data were collected using a Sociodemographic Information Form and a Probiotic Information and Attitude Form. The data were evaluated using frequency, percentage and chi-square tests. SETTING Two hospitals of one province in the central Black Sea Region, Turkey. PARTICIPANTS 519 mothers with infants between six months and two years old who had been hospitalized in pediatric clinics participated in the study. RESULTS 20.2% of the mothers knew what a probiotic was, 33.1% of them had knowledge of specific probiotic products, and 49.7% of them knew that breast milk contains probiotics. A statistically significant difference was found between mothers'knowledge of probiotics and probiotic products, and their ages, education, employment, income, family structure and whether they were actively breastfeeding(p<0.05).A statistically significant difference was found between the mothers' knowledge that breast milk contains probiotics. and their ages, education, employment, income, family structure, age of children, and actively breastfeeding(p<0.05). CONCLUSION The study found that the mothers' knowledge and practices regarding probiotics was inadequate, and that they traditionally used natural products in their daily lives. Evidence-based educational activities should be designed which include information about the definition of probiotics, and their benefits and disadvantages for mothers. Further studies are needed to determine the knowledge and attitudes of health professionals regarding the use of probiotics by mothers with infants and pregnant women.