The Best for Baby Card: An Evaluation of Factors That Influence Women’s Decisions to Breastfeed

Exclusive breastmilk pumping: A concept analysis

Aim

To analyze and examine the concept of exclusive breast pumping (EP).

Background

Breastmilk is the ideal nutrition for infants, yet when breastfeeding is unsuccessful, parents resort to informal breastmilk sharing, artificial formula feeding, or EP. A growing proportion of families exclusively pump yet they often receive guidance from social media rather than healthcare providers because healthcare providers are uninformed about this feeding method.

Data Source

Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases were searched using the following keywords: human milk express*, breast express*, breast milk express, breastmilk express*, exclusive pump, exclusive breast pumping, and exclusive expression.

Review Methods

Concept analysis design using Walker and Avant's method.

Results

Three defining attributes of (1) absence of direct breastfeeding, (2) breastmilk expression, (3) and an enduring infant feeding pattern of feeding expressed breastmilk only via a bottle were identified. All three attributes are required to confirm the presence of the concept of exclusive pumping. Definitions, antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents are described. Model and contrary cases are discussed.

Conclusion

This exclusive pumping concept analysis allows for consistency in terminology in practice and research. EP is a feeding method which can increase the proportion of infants who are fed breastmilk and may reduce the risks that arise from artificial formula feeding.

Women's Perceptions of Hospital-Based Breastfeeding Care and the Association With Exclusive Breastfeeding

OBJECTIVE

To examine the differences in women's perceptions of hospital-based breastfeeding care and the association of these perceptions with exclusive breastfeeding.

DESIGN

Observational, mixed-methods study.

SETTING/LOCAL PROBLEM

A 932-bed, Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative-designated, university hospital with approximately 2,000 births per year, where 50% of women who wanted to breastfeed were supplementing with formula before hospital discharge.

PARTICIPANTS

Thirty-four women who gave birth to a term, singleton newborn and had a desire to breastfeed exclusively.

MEASUREMENTS

Women's perceptions were assessed using a modified version of the Questionnaire for the Breastfeeding Mother.

RESULTS

Women's perceptions of breastfeeding care were positively associated with exclusive breastfeeding (p = .049). In addition, the influence of how a woman's own mother fed her as an infant was shown, because women who themselves were breastfed as infants were more likely to exclusively breastfeed their own newborns. Content analysis showed that women appreciated the care received in the hospital from lactation consultants and access to a hospital-administered breastfeeding clinic after discharge.

CONCLUSION

Creating a hospital environment supportive of breastfeeding could yield positive breastfeeding outcomes for women and newborns.