Table 4.
Source of recommendation and provision
| Any complementary medicine products | Type of complementary medicine product | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dietary supplements | Herbal Medicine | |||
| Cases n (%)* | Cases n (%)* | Cases n (%)* | ||
| Source of recommendation | ||||
| Obstetrician | 172 (51.5) | 170 (55.2) | 12 (9.0) | |
| No one / Myself | 86 (25.7) | 63 (20.5) | 34 (25.6) | |
| Pediatrician | 61 (18.3) | 52 (16.9) | 15 (11.3) | |
| Family physician | 49 (14.7) | 45 (14.6) | 8 (6.0) | |
| Friends/Relatives | 43 (12.9) | 17 (5.5) | 28 (21.1) | |
| Another physician | 38 (11.4) | 34 (11.0) | 5 (3.8) | |
| Herbalist / Health food store staff | 16 (4.8) | 5 (1.6) | 12 (9.0) | |
| Another breastfeeding mother | 15 (4.5) | 9 (2.9) | 8 (6.0) | |
| Social media / Internet | 15 (4.5) | 10 (3.2) | 7 (5.3) | |
| Lactation consultant | 13 (3.9) | 6 (1.9) | 7 (5.3) | |
| Pharmacist | 12 (3.6) | 8 (2.6) | 5 (3.8) | |
| Dietitian | 7 (2.1) | 3 (1.0) | 4 (3.0) | |
| Midwife | 6 (1.8) | 2 (0.6) | 5 (3.8) | |
| Nurse | 5 (1.5) | 2 (0.6) | 3 (2.3) | |
| Other | 4 (1.2) | 3 (1.0) | 1 (0.8) | |
| TV/Radio | 3 (0.9) | 3 (1.0) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Source of provision | ||||
| Pharmacy | 293 (87.7) | 286 (92.9) | 33 (24.8) | |
| Herbalist | 56 (16.8) | 1 (0.3) | 55 (41.4) | |
| Grocery store | 53 (15.9) | 12 (3.9) | 44 (33.1) | |
| Internet | 42 (12.6) | 36 (11.7) | 8 (6.0) | |
| Other | 22 (6.6) | 15 (4.9) | 7 (5.3) | |
| Friends/Relatives | 7 (2.1) | 3 (1.0) | 4 (3.0) | |
| Informed about the potential side effects of the product | ||||
| Yes | 174 (52.1) | 150 (48.7) | 63 (47.4) | |
| No | 198 (59.3) | 178 (57.8) | 73 (54.9) | |
| Total | 334 (100.0) | 308 (100.0) | 133 (100.0) | |
* The column does not add up to 100% because a mother can select a separate answer for each product she used