We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
'It's far from the norm': breastfeeding beyond 1 year in the Republic of Ireland.
- Authors
Paul, Gillian; Vickers, Niamh; Kincaid, Regina; McGuinness, Denise
- Abstract
Breastfeeding is the optimal form of nutrition for infants and young children. The World Health Organization recommends that babies are breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months of life, and up to the age of 2 years or beyond in combination with complementary food. Breastfeeding initiation and continuation rates are suboptimal globally and very low in the Republic of Ireland where health promotion initiatives and healthcare professional support predominantly focus on the important phase of initiation and early months of the breastfeeding journey. This qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore the experiences of women who chose to breastfeed their children beyond 1 year of age in the Republic of Ireland. Fourteen women participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was conducted. The analysis generated three overarching themes: (1) Influences on breastfeeding beyond 1 year, (2) Sustaining breastfeeding and (3) Benefits of breastfeeding beyond 1 year. Family, friends, peers, culture and commercial milk formula marketing had an influence on breastfeeding journeys. Support, determination, knowledge, bed-sharing and Covid-19 pandemic social restrictions helped to sustain breastfeeding beyond 1 year. Benefits of breastfeeding beyond 1 year such as nutrition, strengthening of emotional bonds, development of a parenting tool, and protection of child and maternal health were identified. Our findings support the need for discussions and further research on the normalization of breastfeeding beyond 1 year in the Republic of Ireland, targeted health promotion initiatives and education programmes for healthcare professionals on supporting the continuation of breastfeeding.
- Subjects
IRELAND; ATTITUDES toward breastfeeding; HEALTH literacy; SUPPORT groups; QUALITATIVE research; INTERVIEWING; SAMPLE size (Statistics); HUMAN research subjects; CULTURE; JUDGMENT sampling; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; EXPERIENCE; THEMATIC analysis; PSYCHOLOGY of mothers; RESEARCH methodology; INFORMED consent (Medical law); FAMILY support; DATA analysis software; SOCIAL stigma; COVID-19 pandemic; NUTRITION
- Publication
Health Promotion International, 2024, Vol 39, Issue 4, p1
- ISSN
0957-4824
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/heapro/daae088