Factors affecting mothers ' choice of infant feeding method

i *:i'.: Preface and acknowledgements After three years I have at last finished my mini dissertation. It may have taken long, but it was worth every minute of my time. Sometimes I did wonder what made me decide to do my Masters degree. At this moment I am very happy that I did decide to do it and I am not regretting it at all. Firstly it is important that you understand the reason why I chose this specific subject. I started working at Lower Umfolozi District War Memorial Hospital in 2007. The services at the hospital include maternity services, obstetrics and gynecology services and neonatal services. At that time they were busy starting to get the hospital ready for the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative re assessment. As a Dietician I was very involved with training the staff on breastfeeding. This made me develop a passion for breastfeeding and also wanting to promote breastfeeding as much as possible. It made me decide to do research at the hospital concerning the reason why women choose their infant feeding method that they use. It was really challenging to collect information because of the communication gap that there existed between me and the patients. The majority of the patients that visit the hospital are Zulu speaking.