Mothers' breastfeeding experiences and implications for professionals

Abstract

Twenty percent of babies in the UK are receiving breast milk for the recommended 6 months, suggesting that long-term breastfeeding is untenable for many mothers. This article reviews research on breastfeeding experiences and analyses six mothers' experiences of initiating and ceasing, or continuing breastfeeding. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to understand how they made sense of their breastfeeding experiences. All had breastfed in the last year, had similar socioeconomic backgrounds, and varied in their breastfeeding durations from up to 1 month, for 1-6 months and more than 6 months. Three major themes emerged: 1) reality of breastfeeding was highly discrepant from expectations, 2) the role of others in sustaining breastfeeding, and 3) feelings of guilt. Breastfeeding promotions that focus on biological benefits of breastfeeding without regard for psychosocial factors create a moral dilemma for mothers. Educational and counselling interventions using a biopsychosocial perspective can help mothers make informed feeding decisions.