Breast milk expression among formally employed women in urban and rural Malaysia: A qualitative study

Abstract

BackgroundMany women are unable to practice exclusive breastfeeding because they are separated from their infants while working. Expressing their breast milk helps them to continue breastfeeding. This study explores the perception and experiences related to the feasibility, acceptability and safety of breast milk expression among formally employed women in Kelantan, Malaysia.MethodsA qualitative method using in-depth interviews was conducted from December 2008 to December 2009 among Malay women from urban and rural areas. A snowball sampling method was used to recruit the informants, and the interviews, which were facilitated by an interview guide, were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was conducted, with construction of codes and themes from each interview.ResultsAnalysis of the interviews with 20 informants identified three themes related to breast milk expression. The themes were as follows: (i) lack of feasibility of expressing breast milk, (ii) negative feelings about expressing breast milk, and (iii) doubts about the safety and hygiene of expressed breast milk. The informants who did not practice exclusive breastfeeding believed that expressing their breast milk was not feasible, commonly because they felt there were not enough facilities for them. They also had negative feelings such as embarrassment. The safety and hygiene of the expressed breast milk was also their main concern.ConclusionMore practical and focused education, as well as provision of facilities, is needed for women to effectively and safely express and store their breast milk. The issue of inadequate milk production should be emphasized, especially by encouraging them to express their breast milk as a way to improve milk production.

Assessment of Knowledge and Practice about Self Expressed Breast Milk among Saudi Mothers in Jazan Region, KSA, 2016

“…Percentage of mothers knows that when expressed breast milk mothers can continue breast feeding are more than 50% similar to other studies done to same purpose [11,13,17,18].…”

“…Mothers used glass and plastic containers to store milk are 41.1% and 16.5% without know the risks of using non-special storing bags or containers like other women in Turkey [17,18].…”

“…Freezing the expressed breast milk was a less choice for most of lactating mothers as most of them used refrigerator or room temperature because it is the best way as they know. Malaysian mothers behave the same and know the same [17]. It is good that freezing is not known as best method for expressed milk storage because of its decrease level of antimicrobial activity level with prolonged storage [20,21].…”

The exclusive breastfeeding experiences of working mothers in West Sumatera (Sumbar) Peduli ASI community

“…17 Therefore, the support from the workplace to be one of the important factors in the success of exclusive breastfeeding among working mothers. 11,18,19 Social support that is obtained from the supervisor in the office, colleagues, and working conditions are also very important. 13 The company should tolerate such permission 1-2 hours so that staff can go home just breastfeed or express milk.…”

Associação entre introdução precoce de alimentos complementares e depressão pós-parto em mulheres com histórico de depressão na gravidez

“…al, 2005b;Alves et al, 2008;Schiess et al, 2010). Autores também evidenciaram o fato de que a separação do filho devido à volta da mãe ao trabalho fora do lar é fator de risco independente para a introdução precoce de outros líquidos e alimentos, com repercussões óbvias na saúde da criança (Correa et al, 2009;Radzniwan et al, 2009;Chuang et al, 2010;Tan, 2011;Tengku Ismail et al, 2012;Mirkovic et al, 2016;Xiang et al, 2016). Simon et al (2003) Autores encontraram associações positivas entre AM e melhor perfil alimentar de crianças, incluindo menor chance de receber alimentos complementares precocemente (Rebhan et al, 2009;Schiess et al, 2010;Lioret et al, 2015), além de menor consumo de bebidas adoçadas (Hendricks et al, 2006;Park et al, 2014) e maior frequência de consumo de frutas, verduras e legumes, nas crianças que foram amamentadas exclusivamente, comparadas às que receberam também outros tipos de leites (Cooke et al, 2004).…”