This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between perceived insufficient milk and breastfeeding self-efficacy levels among Turkish mothers.

The study was conducted on 200 mothers whose infants were hospitalized and under treatment and who could breastfeed their infants in the newborn clinic of a university hospital in eastern Turkey between June 2013 and February 2014. A sampling method was not applied in the study, so the sample consisted of the population of the study. The ‘Personal Information Form’, ‘Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale’ and ‘Perception of Insufficient Milk Questionnaire’ were used to collect the data. Data were analysed by using percentage distribution and arithmetic average; independent sample t test, Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis variance analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and Cronbach alpha reliability coefficiency in the SPSS 18.0 package program.

The study determined that advanced age, higher education level and higher income status, male gender of the child, planning of the pregnancy, many births, receiving breastfeeding education and the length of time that mothers planned to exclusively breastfeed affected breastfeeding self-efficacy and perception of milk sufficiency positively (p<0.05). The study showed that, as breastfeeding self-efficacy levels of mothers increased, their perception of milk sufficiency also increased (p<0.05).

The study concluded that some factors related to the mother, infant, pregnancy and breastfeeding affected breastfeeding self-efficacy and the perception of milk insufficiency. As the breastfeeding self-efficacy level increased, the milk was perceived to be more sufficient.