Participants
congenital abnormalities, palate
Participants met the inclusion criteria where they had experienced a singleton pregnancy, a desire to exclusively breastfeed, given birth in Shahid Gharazi Hospital, and a gestational age of 37–42 weeks at the time of birth. Moreover, to be included, the Apgar score of the infant in the first and fifth minutes was required to be greater than or equal to 7, and its weight was required to be between 2500 and 4000 g. Participants met the exclusion criteria where congenital abnormalities were incompatible with breastfeeding (e.g., abnormalities in the mouth, palate, tongue, jaw, and face) and breastfeeding was contraindicated (e.g. non-prescription drug use during breastfeeding or mastectomy). Participants were withdrawn from the study where they required hospitalization in an intensive care unit after birth, used other breastfeeding positions, and/or did not complete questionnaires 1 week and/or 2 weeks after childbirth.