BARRIERS TO BREASTFEEDING
One problem women face when choosing to breastfeed their baby is not having the modeling or social support from their own mothers or other women around them and not having the support from their significant other. Breastfeeding can be difficult in and of itself so if they are faced with a problem such as mastitis or low milk supply if they do not have the support from those close within their circle they may choose to quit breastfeeding altogether.
Rempel (2004) showed that the longer (past 9 months) women breastfed they perceived less approval by their peers for continuing the practice which affected the length of time they chose to breastfeed. This gives important implications in realizing the social pressures for mothers to stop breastfeeding before the first year are prominent and that women need not only directly after birth support but long-term support in breastfeeding. This could be applied in client care. Sometimes the first few months are heavily focused on and we need to remember the entire span of breastfeeding and the importance of the social aspects in this. Finding out what attitudes they possess and their perceptions of those around them.
Giugliani et al. (1994) showed that beyond the socioeconomic, race, maternal age or education, women whose partners supported and preferred breastfeeding were more likely to initiate breastfeeding than the comparison bottle fed group. The social factors do matter for mothers in their choice to breastfeed. In a Swedish study, Ekstrom et al. (2003) found that the time the partner was with the family unit at birth and beyond correlated with longer breastfeeding outcomes. Mothers that were more confident in their mothering at 6-12 months was correlated with confidence with the partner during birth. This study also looked at the grandmother effect, if mothers knew how long they were breastfed and had a positive view from their mothers they breastfed longer than the group who did not know how long they had been breastfed. It was suggested in the discussion that caregivers could talk to mothers about their own breastfeeding history (eg. how long they had been breastfed themselves) and to explore if it was a positive or negative experience and this information could possibly assist in knowing what attitudes or perceptions their client may exhibit in breastfeeding attitudes, as many women will do what the mothers did.
Wambach and Riordian (2016) related a study of preterm babies, those with a better support system were six times more likely to continue breastfeeding. I am part of the Utah Birth Forum a Facebook group run by the Utah Doula Association and there are all kinds of pregnancy/birth and breastfeeding topics discussed. Recently, there was a question posed by a mother who was asking if she should start weaning her 14-month-old of the sole bedtime night feeding and she was not really wanting to give it up herself but was asking for feedback or social support on what she should do. I commented about the positive effects of continuing for both nutrition and bonding and many others encouraged her in the same manner. I thought it was interesting she was asking for social acceptance in this practice, and there is a lot of power in social media to help change attitudes about birth and breastfeeding issues. If we promote positive attitudes about breastfeeding and work to change the culture about the health benefits of continuing breastfeeding I think things will improve. As generations of mothers breastfeed, then their daughters will more likely breastfeed as well as change sons attitudes as well to be more supportive of the breastfeeding mother.
References
Ekström, A., Widström, A. M., & Nissen, E. (2003). Breastfeeding support from partners and grandmothers: perceptions of Swedish women. Birth, 30(4), 261-266.
Giugliani, E. R., Caiaffa, W. T., Vogelhut, J., Witter, F. R., & Perman, J. A. (1994). Effect of breastfeeding support from different sources on mothers' decisions to breastfeed. Journal of human lactation, 10(3), 157-161.
Rempel, L. A. (2004). Factors influencing the breastfeeding decisions of long-term breastfeeders. Journal of Human Lactation, 20(3), 306-318.
Wambach, K., & Riordan, J. (Eds.). (2014). Breastfeeding and human lactation. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Rempel (2004) showed that the longer (past 9 months) women breastfed they perceived less approval by their peers for continuing the practice which affected the length of time they chose to breastfeed. This gives important implications in realizing the social pressures for mothers to stop breastfeeding before the first year are prominent and that women need not only directly after birth support but long-term support in breastfeeding. This could be applied in client care. Sometimes the first few months are heavily focused on and we need to remember the entire span of breastfeeding and the importance of the social aspects in this. Finding out what attitudes they possess and their perceptions of those around them.
Giugliani et al. (1994) showed that beyond the socioeconomic, race, maternal age or education, women whose partners supported and preferred breastfeeding were more likely to initiate breastfeeding than the comparison bottle fed group. The social factors do matter for mothers in their choice to breastfeed. In a Swedish study, Ekstrom et al. (2003) found that the time the partner was with the family unit at birth and beyond correlated with longer breastfeeding outcomes. Mothers that were more confident in their mothering at 6-12 months was correlated with confidence with the partner during birth. This study also looked at the grandmother effect, if mothers knew how long they were breastfed and had a positive view from their mothers they breastfed longer than the group who did not know how long they had been breastfed. It was suggested in the discussion that caregivers could talk to mothers about their own breastfeeding history (eg. how long they had been breastfed themselves) and to explore if it was a positive or negative experience and this information could possibly assist in knowing what attitudes or perceptions their client may exhibit in breastfeeding attitudes, as many women will do what the mothers did.
Wambach and Riordian (2016) related a study of preterm babies, those with a better support system were six times more likely to continue breastfeeding. I am part of the Utah Birth Forum a Facebook group run by the Utah Doula Association and there are all kinds of pregnancy/birth and breastfeeding topics discussed. Recently, there was a question posed by a mother who was asking if she should start weaning her 14-month-old of the sole bedtime night feeding and she was not really wanting to give it up herself but was asking for feedback or social support on what she should do. I commented about the positive effects of continuing for both nutrition and bonding and many others encouraged her in the same manner. I thought it was interesting she was asking for social acceptance in this practice, and there is a lot of power in social media to help change attitudes about birth and breastfeeding issues. If we promote positive attitudes about breastfeeding and work to change the culture about the health benefits of continuing breastfeeding I think things will improve. As generations of mothers breastfeed, then their daughters will more likely breastfeed as well as change sons attitudes as well to be more supportive of the breastfeeding mother.
References
Ekström, A., Widström, A. M., & Nissen, E. (2003). Breastfeeding support from partners and grandmothers: perceptions of Swedish women. Birth, 30(4), 261-266.
Giugliani, E. R., Caiaffa, W. T., Vogelhut, J., Witter, F. R., & Perman, J. A. (1994). Effect of breastfeeding support from different sources on mothers' decisions to breastfeed. Journal of human lactation, 10(3), 157-161.
Rempel, L. A. (2004). Factors influencing the breastfeeding decisions of long-term breastfeeders. Journal of Human Lactation, 20(3), 306-318.
Wambach, K., & Riordan, J. (Eds.). (2014). Breastfeeding and human lactation. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
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