UK women's experiences of breastfeeding and additional breastfeeding support: a qualitative study of Baby Cafe services
UK women's experiences of breastfeeding and additional breastfeeding support: a qualitative study of Baby Cafe services
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DOI：
10.1186/s12884-015-0581-5
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发表时间：
2015-07-07
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Newburn, Mary
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fox, Rebekah;McMullen, Sarah;Newburn, Mary
背景：虽然 81% 的英国女性开始母乳喂养，但产后早期母乳喂养率急剧下降，只有 55% 的女性在六周时进行母乳喂养。其中 80% 的女性比预期更早停止母乳喂养，她们表示喂养困难且缺乏足够的支持。作为提高母乳喂养持续率的努力的一部分，许多公共和志愿组织提供额外的母乳喂养支持服务，为产后早期及以后提供实际支持。本文重点关注英国 Baby Cafe 服务用户的定性体验，以考察他们的母乳喂养和母乳喂养支持体验。 方法：该研究基于对英国八个 Baby Cafe 母乳喂养支持小组的用户的深入访谈和焦点小组。对使用该服务的总共 51 名母亲进行了 36 次访谈和 5 个焦点小组。使用 N Vivo 软件对访谈和小组讨论进行分析，以得出关键主题和讨论。结果：虽然每位母亲的婴儿喂养经历都是独特的，反映了她自己的个人情况和经历，但数据中强烈地出现了几个主题。许多女性认为，热衷于宣传母乳喂养益处的专业人士对她们抱有不切实际的期望。这让他们在遇到早期婴儿喂养的痛苦、问题和无情时感到毫无准备，导致他们对喂养决定感到内疚和不足。母亲们重视 Baby Cafe 服务提供的专业专家和同伴支持相结合，并强调来自其他母亲的社会支持的重要性，使她们能够继续哺乳，只要她们愿意。结论：该研究强调需要现实而不是理想化的产前准备，以及及时和以父母为中心的母乳喂养支持的重要性，特别是在产后几周。研究结果表明，有效的社会支持，加上熟练从业者的保证和指导，可以帮助妇女克服困难，并对自己实现喂养目标的能力充满信心。然而，还需要开展进一步的工作，以确保社区各阶层的妇女都能轻松获得此类服务。
Background: Whilst 81 % of UK women initiate breastfeeding, there is a steep decline in breastfeeding rates during the early postnatal period, with just 55 % of women breastfeeding at six weeks. 80 % of these women stopped breastfeeding sooner than they intended, with women citing feeding difficulties and lack of adequate support. As part of efforts to increase breastfeeding continuation rates, many public and voluntary organisations offer additional breastfeeding support services, which provide practical support in the early postnatal period and beyond. This paper focuses on the qualitative experiences of UK users of Baby Cafe services to examine their experiences of breastfeeding and breastfeeding support.Methods: The study was based upon in-depth interviews and focus groups with users of eight Baby Cafe breastfeeding support groups across the UK. Thirty-six interviews and five focus groups were conducted with a total of fifty-one mothers using the service. Interviews and group discussions were analysed using N Vivo software to draw out key themes and discussions.Results: Whilst each mother's infant feeding journey is unique, reflecting her own personal circumstances and experiences, several themes emerged strongly from the data. Many women felt that they had been given unrealistic expectations of breastfeeding by professionals keen to promote the benefits. This left them feeling unprepared when they encountered pain, problems and relentlessness of early infant feeding, leading to feelings of guilt and inadequacy over their feeding decisions. Mothers valued the combination of expert professional and peer support provided by Baby Cafe services and emphasised the importance of social support from other mothers in enabling them to continue feeding for as long as they wished.Conclusions: The research emphasises the need for realistic rather than idealistic antenatal preparation and the importance of timely and parent-centred breastfeeding support, particularly in the immediate postnatal weeks. The findings suggest that effective social support, combined with reassurance and guidance from skilled practitioners, can help women to overcome difficulties and find confidence in their own abilities to achieve their feeding goals. However, further work is needed to make sure such services are readily accessible to women from all sectors of the community.