Background & Objectives: Successful breastfeeding is the result of right patterns of breastfeeding. This research aimed to study the patterns of breastfeeding in infants in Ray health centers.

Methods & Materials: This is a descriptive study. The cluster random sampling (CRS) technique was used to select 400 mothers who had children under one year. Data were gathered using a questionnaire. Validity of the questionnaire was evaluated using content validity and reliability was determined using test-pretest method. Statistical analysis was carried out using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).

Results: The results showed that 34.5% of mothers breastfed their children exclusively for 6 months. In 58.7% of the samples, the first contact between mother and child was made in less than 2 hours. 95.2% of children were started their first feeding with colostrums and 59% of mothers fed their children with Manna and 54% with sugary water and 39.5% gave them water. 81.5% of children were breastfeed on demand and 18.5% of them were feed two to four times a day. There was no significant relationship between parent&aposs knowledge, child&aposs sex, parent&aposs age, child&aposs rank in the family and child&aposs race with breastfeeding (P>0.05).

Conclusion: The results showed that the mothers had wrong beliefs, low knowledge and inappropriate practice on breastfeeding.

Background & Aim: Breast milk provides many healthy nutrients to infants. Support provided by health care provider has positive effects on duration of breastfeeding. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of telephone counseling on continuity and duration of breastfeeding among primiparus women.

Methods & Materials: This clinical trial was conducted on 140 primiparus women referred to the selected health centers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2010. The participants were randlomly allocated into two equal groups (each: 70 indviduals). The participants in the intervention group received telephone counseling by one of the researchers. The control group received routine care. Data were collected using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics and a breastfeeding check list. Exclusive breastfeeding rates were recorded one and three months after childbirth in both groups. Also, the continuity and duration of exclusive breastfeeding were recored three months after childbirth in both groups. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square test, Fisher&aposs exact test, standard logistic regression and linear regression in the SPSS-16 and the Win Pepi.

Results: The average duration of exclusive breastfeeding in the intervention group (8.05±3.99) was significantly more than the control group (6.23±4.03) (P=0.008). In the third month of delivery, continuity of exclusive breastfeeding in the intervention group was more than the control group (P=0.03). Results also showed that telephone counseling was effective in the duration of exclusive breastfeeding (P=0.02).

Conclusion: Telephone counseling was effective in continuity and duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Using this inexpensive and easy method can help to increase exclusive breastfeeding, especially in primiparus women.