During breastfeeding, lactating mothers adopt different positions that can cause musculoskeletal problems. The purpose of this study was to determine common breastfeeding positions and musculoskeletal problems in our population and the association between them. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted on 400 breast feeding mothers from hospitals, universities and community of Rawalpindi and Islamabad using a self structured questionnaire. It was found that 283(70.8%) reported cross cradle hold (opposite arm) breastfeeding position, while 86(21.5%) reported breastfeeding in side lying position. Also 31(7.9%) were those mothers who adopted other different BF positions. Mechanical neck pain was seen in 147(36.8%) women and mechanical low back pain was seen in 88(22.0%) women. When chi square test was applied to find out association between breastfeeding position and musculoskeletal problems p value was 0.989 that there was no significant difference between them.
Keywords: lactating mothers, BF positions, Musculoskeletal pain, postpartum mothers.