African-American Women’s Perceptions and Experiences About Breastfeeding

Abstract

There are health benefits to breastfeeding for both mothers and their children. The preventive health effects of breastfeeding continue into adulthood, lowering rate of various chronic illnesses. African-American women, especially of lower socioeconomic status, are less likely to breastfeed in comparison to their racial and ethnic counterparts. The purpose of this study is to explore how African-American women experience breastfeeding in the early stages of postpartum care. Two focus groups (N = 20, 10 in each group) were conducted with African-American mothers. Results revealed that participants felt that there were health benefits to breastfeeding, and organizations such as Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provided support. However, participants stated that lack of information, negative perceptions, and unforeseen circumstances were barriers to breastfeeding. This study proposes support and interventions for this group to increase breastfeeding among this population.

Long-Term Breastfeeding in African American Mothers

“…In terms of maternal benefits, weight loss was a commonly mentioned motivator to breastfeed by women in this study. Obeng, Emetu, and Curtis (2015) also reported this as a health benefit mentioned by African American women in their focus group study. This is an important finding given not only the rates of obesity among African American women of reproductive age (Robbins et al, 2014) but also research on how gestational weight gain can affect women's health 18 years after birth (Holland, Groth, & Kitzman, 2015).…”

Hidden Realities of Infant Feeding: Systematic Review of Qualitative Findings from Parents

“…This finding was consistent for parents from studies within all geographical regions, with the exception of two studies in which some mothers reported that breastfeeding (BF), in general, was not acceptable for infant feeding [59] or that colostrum was not considered appropriate [60]. Results from several studies indicated that parents believed that "breastfeeding is the natural way to feed infants" [34,47,56,61], or "the normal way to feed" [62], and that BF is the healthier option for infant milk feeding [41,55,63].…”

“…Parents desired professional and individualized instruction regarding infant feeding that was in keeping with their attitudes, beliefs, culture, and feeding decision from various sources [83], including physicians, pediatric nurses, lactation consultants, or professionals working in health care centers or public nutrition programs, described collectively here as health care providers (HCP). In contrast, studies illuminated that many parents found "infant feeding advice, support, and education from their HCP inadequate, missing completely, inconsistent or contradictory" [36][37][38]41,42,44,46,[49][50][51]53,55,57,63,72,74,76,83,97,98,103,104]. As identified within some studies, while it is important to promote and maintain BF, it is also necessary to ensure that the care, education, and needs of parents and their infants that are not BF are met [74,76], without stigmatizing parents who do not BF [68].…”

Breastfeeding and Breast Cancer Risk Reduction: Implications for Black Mothers

“… 44 A focus group study with black women found that breastfeeding was not mentioned during prenatal or postnatal care visits for some women, which contributed to their decision not to breastfeed their infants. 45 Participants suggested that prenatal breastfeeding education and supportive communication would help new mothers to breastfeed. Another study found that a brief counseling intervention that focused on providing information about the maternal health benefits of breastfeeding, including a lower risk of breast cancer, significantly increased breastfeeding intention among pregnant low-income black women (AOR=1.20, 95% CI=1.02, 1.42).…”