Objective To investigate the knowledge and attitude of newly recruited nurses on breastfeeding and their demands on clinical teaching of breastfeeding, and to provide the basis for the construction of a clinical teaching program of breastfeeding in the later stage.

Methods From August to October 2020, a convenience sampling method was adopted to select newly recruited nurses from three specialized obstetrics and gynecology hospitals in Shanghai as research subjects, and a questionnaire survey on knowledge and attitude of breastfeeding and training needs were performed.

Results The total scores of 101 newly recruited nurses on breastfeeding knowledge and attitude were 13.81±2.60 and 58.49±10.07, respectively. The results of multiple linear stepwise regression showed that the number of weeks of obstetrics practice and hours of breastfeeding training were independent influencing factors of knowledge score (P < 0.001), while the direct experience, number of weeks of practice and hours of breastfeeding training were independent influencing factors of attitude score (P < 0.05). According to the demand survey, the dimension in which the newly recruited nurses had the highest score for breastfeeding training was communication skills (89.80%), and the teaching form was one-to-one teaching (43.56%). According to the self-competence survey, the ability to fully perform was 2.97%.

Conclusions The knowledge and attitude of new nureses towards breastfeeding are at a middle and low level, which needs to be further improved. College administrators should adjust the duration of breastfeeding courses and obstetrics practice, and further optimize the clinical teaching forms and programs of breastfeeding, so as to comprehensively improve the knowledge and attitude and the competence of clinical guidance on breastfeeding of new nurses.