The importance of hands

Messages to new mothers: an analysis of breast pump advertisements

The mass media is replete with all kinds of advice, products and ideas about 'motherhood' with advertising being a major source of information on the latest products and consumer trends. Advertising is a key means of promoting ideas about infant feeding, and yet, there has been little in the way of critical analyses of breast pump advertisements in order to reveal the kinds of messages they convey about this method of feeding. This article makes an important step towards addressing this gap through analysing three advertisements for breast pumps from a popular Australian magazine for mothers. We utilize a social semiotic framework to investigate not just what choices are made in the design of the ads but also what those choices mean in terms of the overall message of the ads. Our analysis identifies three core messages: 'breastfeeding and breast pumping are the same with the purpose being to produce breast milk only', 'using breast pumps facilitates quality time with the baby' and 'mothers need outside expertise (including breast pumps) to ensure baby's development'. We believe it is important for those who provide information and support for breastfeeding women to be aware of the subtle, naturalized messages that ads convey so that they may better understand what may be underlying women's decisions regarding methods of infant feeding. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Reasons for initial formula supplementation of healthy breastfeeding newborns

In a retrospective review of 302 hospital charts, 38 percent of newborns whose mothers planned to exclusively breastfeed received formula before hospital discharge. Those breastfeeding infants who did not receive formula were significantly younger at first breastfeeding than infants who received formula. Significantly more infants born by cesarean (51 percent) received supplementation than those born vaginally (31 percent). Birth between 9 p.m. and 10 a.m. and a hospital stay for more than 24 hours increased odds of supplementation. Nurses can explore barriers to exclusive breastfeeding unique to their hospitals to develop strategies that facilitate breastfeeding support and decrease formula supplementation.

Prevalence and outcomes of breast milk expressing in women with healthy term infants: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Expressing breast milk has become increasingly prevalent, particularly in some developed countries. Concurrently, breast pumps have evolved to be more sophisticated and aesthetically appealing, adapted for domestic use, and have become more readily available. In the past, expressed breast milk feeding was predominantly for those infants who were premature, small or unwell; however it has become increasingly common for healthy term infants. The aim of this paper is to systematically explore the literature related to breast milk expressing by women who have healthy term infants, including the prevalence of breast milk expressing, reported reasons for, methods of, and outcomes related to, expressing.

METHODS

Databases (Medline, CINAHL, JSTOR, ProQuest Central, PsycINFO, PubMed and the Cochrane library) were searched using the keywords milk expression, breast milk expression, breast milk pumping, prevalence, outcomes, statistics and data, with no limit on year of publication. Reference lists of identified papers were also examined. A hand-search was conducted at the Australian Breastfeeding Association Lactation Resource Centre. Only English language papers were included. All papers about expressing breast milk for healthy term infants were considered for inclusion, with a focus on the prevalence, methods, reasons for and outcomes of breast milk expression.

RESULTS

A total of twenty two papers were relevant to breast milk expression, but only seven papers reported the prevalence and/or outcomes of expressing amongst mothers of well term infants; all of the identified papers were published between 1999 and 2012. Many were descriptive rather than analytical and some were commentaries which included calls for more research, more dialogue and clearer definitions of breastfeeding. While some studies found an association between expressing and the success and duration of breastfeeding, others found the opposite. In some cases these inconsistencies were compounded by imprecise definitions of breastfeeding and breast milk feeding.

CONCLUSIONS

There is limited evidence about the prevalence and outcomes of expressing breast milk amongst mothers of healthy term infants. The practice of expressing breast milk has increased along with the commercial availability of a range of infant feeding equipment. The reasons for expressing have become more complex while the outcomes, when they have been examined, are contradictory.