Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Tandem Breastfeeding in Türkiye: Health Care Professionals’ Knowledge and Counseling Practices

Background: Evidence on health care professionals’ knowledge and counseling practices regarding breastfeeding during pregnancy and tandem breastfeeding remains limited. Objective: To assess health care professionals’ factual and self-perceived knowledge, counseling practices, and factors associated with providing counseling on breastfeeding during pregnancy and tandem breastfeeding. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between February and September 2025 in two public hospitals in Hatay, Türkiye. A total of 362 health care professionals completed a 32-item researcher-developed questionnaire. Breastfeeding-during-pregnancy and tandem-breastfeeding knowledge indices ranged from 0 to 8 and 0 to 5, respectively. Nonparametric tests and binary logistic regression were used. Results: Mean knowledge scores were 4.62 ± 2.38 for breastfeeding during pregnancy and 2.62 ± 1.91 for tandem breastfeeding. Although 82.3% perceived their breastfeeding-during-pregnancy knowledge as sufficient, only 21.0% reported sufficient tandem-breastfeeding knowledge. Counseling was provided by 32.0% for breastfeeding during pregnancy and 19.9% for tandem breastfeeding. Higher knowledge scores were independently associated with counseling on breastfeeding during pregnancy (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.177, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.053–1.315) and tandem breastfeeding (aOR = 1.366, 95% CI: 1.134–1.645). Guideline or professional-resource use was also associated with both counseling outcomes (aOR = 3.318 and 2.995, respectively). Conclusions: Health care professionals demonstrated important knowledge gaps and low counseling rates, particularly for tandem breastfeeding. Greater factual knowledge and use of current professional resources were associated with counseling. Targeted, competency-based education and accessible clinical guidance may support more consistent, evidence-based counseling.