Background: The exclusive breastfeeding effects on growth and weight gain in infants. This study evaluated the effects of counseling on adherence to exclusive breastfeeding inmothers of late -preterm infants.

Methods: This randomized experimental study was recruited 124 mothers of hospitalized late preterm infants in Fatemiyeh Hospital (Hamadan, Iran) during 2014. The participants were randomly allocated to the intervention and control groups. A checklist on lactation performance was completed by both groups. Five daily counseling sessions on lactation were then held for the intervention group. All analyses were performed in SPSS/21 at a significance level of P<0.05.

Result: The mean age of mothers was 27.13 ± 0.527 years in the intervention group and 27.19 ± 0.596 years in the control group. While 86 infants (69.4%) were born at 33-35 weeks of gestation, and 38 infants (30.6%) were born at 35 weeks to 36 weeks and six days of gestation. In the one-month follow-up, the two groups had a significant difference in terms of adherence to exclusive breastfeeding, i.e. frequency of breastfeeding and avoiding the use of formula, liquids other than breast milk, and supplements and lactation performance (P < 0.001). Moreover, the infants’ mean weight was 2818.62 ± 588.54 and 2422.58 ± 607.175 g in the intervention and control groups, respectively (P<0.001).

Conclusion: According to our findings, breastfeeding-related counseling mothers can increase mothers’ adherence to exclusive breastfeeding, improve their lactation performance, and enhance weight gain in their late preterm infants. Therefore, lactation counseling sessionsare recommended for mothers of all preterm infants.