Initial difficulties with breastfeeding technique and the impact on duration of exclusive breastfeeding

Factors associated with maternal well-being during childbirth among postpartum women in Minas Gerais

OBJECTIVES

to analyze the factors associated with maternal well-being during childbirth among postpartum women in Minas Gerais.

METHODS

a cross-sectional study nested within a cohort was conducted with postpartum women in a municipality of Minas Gerais. The Maternal Well-being in Childbirth Scale 2 was used. The prevalence of maternal well-being during childbirth was estimated. The magnitude of the association between maternal distress and care practices was estimated using the Prevalence Ratio (PR), applying Poisson regression.

RESULTS

a total of 183 postpartum women aged between 15 and 46 years participated, with 26.2%, 27.9%, and 45.9% reporting excellent, adequate, and poor well-being during childbirth care, respectively. Maternal distress was more prevalent among women who underwent cesarean sections (PR = 1.60) and those who did not receive breastfeeding information (PR = 1.59).

CONCLUSIONS

a high prevalence of maternal distress during childbirth was observed, associated with cesarean delivery and the lack of breastfeeding information.

Factors related to early weaning in babies born at term in a public maternity

PURPOSE

to analyze how socioeconomic, pregnancy and childbirth factors relate to the feeding situation in the sixth month of life of full-term babies.

METHODS

longitudinal observational study, with 98 mothers of full-term babies. Data collection was structured by capturing information regarding the clinical history and moment of birth in the babies' medical records, followed by the application of two questionnaires to the postpartum women, with questions regarding sociodemographic data, pre- and post-pregnancy data and the baby's nutrition. baby, the first being answered during hospital stay and the second, by telephone, in the 6th month of life. A descriptive analysis of the data was performed, using the frequency distribution of categorical variables, inferential analysis using Pearson's Chi-square test and multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression, adopting, for inclusion in the final model, the significance level of 5%.

RESULTS

there was an association between exclusive breastfeeding in the 6th month and maternal education and between the period of food introduction and family income. Mothers with higher education were 4.82 times more likely to breastfeed their children exclusively until the sixth month. Families with lower income (up to one minimum wage) were 2.54 times more likely to start food introduction before the sixth month than families with higher income.

CONCLUSION

higher maternal education was a predictive factor for exclusive breastfeeding at the 6th month and higher military income was a predictive factor for introducing food after the 6th month.

Perceived pressure to breastfeed negatively impacts postpartum mental health outcomes over time

Introduction

Positive maternal mental health is associated with improved outcomes for infants, and yet the consideration of maternal mental health is often neglected in breastfeeding interventions. Breastfeeding interventions typically focus on breastfeeding promotion, and do not always include supports for the mother. This may result in isolated perceived pressure to breastfeed, the mental health impacts of which are not well understood.

Methods

This mixed-methods, longitudinal study examined whether perceived pressure to breastfeed was associated with depression, suicide ideation, anxiety, birth trauma and stress concurrently and 4 weeks later for postpartum mothers. It also examined qualitative experiences of feeding.

Results

Perceived pressure to breastfeed was associated with increased anxiety, stress and birth trauma symptoms four weeks later. Thematic analysis suggested this may be due to difficulties living up to the "breast is best" ideal, believing breastfeeding was part of success as a mother, lack of choices and autonomy in feeding choices for infants and general lack of support.

Discussion

As such it appears we may be doing more harm than good by focusing our interventions for breastfeeding primarily on increasing pressure to breastfeed, and interventions should consider strategies for promoting positive maternal mental health alongside breastfeeding.

Evolution of breastfeeding indicators and early introduction of foods in Latin American and Caribbean countries in the decades of 1990, 2000 and 2010

Background

Early introduction of liquid/solid food before 6 months of age is one of the major barriers to exclusive breastfeeding. Our objective was to analyze the evolution of infant feeding practices for infants under 6 months of age in Latin American and Caribbean countries in the decades of 1990, 2000 and 2010.

Method

Cross-sectional time series study with data from Demographic and Health Surveys carried out between 1990 and 2017 in six Latin America and Caribbean countries: Bolivia (1994 to 2008), Colombia (1995 to 2010), Dominican Republic (1996 to 2013), Guatemala (1995 to 2015), Haiti (1994/1995 to 2016/2017), Peru (1996 to 2018). Pooled sample comprised of 22,545 infants under the age of 6 months. Surveys were grouped in three decades: 1990s for surveys from 1990 to 1999, 2000s for surveys from 2000 to 2009, and 2010s for surveys from 2010 to 2017. Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), predominant breastfeeding (PBF), mixed breastfeeding (mixed BF), supplemented breastfeeding (supplemented BF) and non-breastfeeding (non-BF), and individual foods (water, liquids, milk, infant formula, semi-solid/solid) were analyzed. Prevalence of breastfeeding and food indicators were calculated in pooled sample, according to the infant monthly age groups, decade of survey and residence area(rural/urban).

Results

Between 1990s and 2010s, there was an increase in the exclusive breastfeeding prevalence (1990s = 38.1%, 2010s = 46.6%) and a reduction in the PBF prevalence (1990s = 51.7%, 2010 s = 43.1%). There was a decrease in the liquids (1990s = 40.7%, 2010s = 15.8%) and milk prevalence (1990s = 20.4%, 2010s = 8.3%) and an increase in water (1990s = 32.3%, 2010s = 37.6%), and infant formula (1990s = 16.6%, 2010s = 25.5%) prevalence. All breastfeeding indicators, except exclusive breastfeeding, progressively increased according to the monthly age group in three decades, and EBF prevalence sharply decreased from 2 to 3 months of age in all decades. Exclusive breastfeeding prevalence was higher in rural area in the three decades (1990s _rural = 43.8%, 1990s _urban = 32.4%, 2010s _rural = 51.1%, 2010s _urban = 42.4%) and infant formula prevalence was higher in urban area (1990s _rural = 8.6%, 1990s _urban = 24.6%, 2010s _rural = 15.9%, 2010s _urban = 34.1%).

Conclusions

In the last three decades, in all age groups, there was an increase in exclusive breastfeeding prevalence, as well as a significant reduction in liquids and milk. In the rural area, EBF prevalence remains higher than in urban. Increased water and infant formula feeding are the main barriers to achieving the Global Nutrition Target 2025 for exclusive breastfeeding.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13006-022-00477-6.