Opinions Toward Breastfeeding in Public and Appropriate Duration

Roche, Andrea T.; Owen, K.; Fung, Teresa T.

doi:10.1177/1941406414566675

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Partner approval and support of breastfeeding has been consistently shown to be a key determinant of breastfeeding success including the decision to breastfeed and to continue breastfeeding [50,51]. Partner support is likely to be even more important in the case of continued breastfeeding to 12 months and beyond, as societal acceptance, particularly amongst men, of continued breastfeeding and breastfeeding in public decreases as the age of the breastfed child increases [23,24].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On their own, these terms are culturally subjective unless anchored with an age. Furthermore, several of these terms, the latter two in particular, may have negative connotations in high income countries, where disapproving attitudes increase, and support for breastfeeding decreases, as the age of the child increases [22,23,24]. Care therefore, needs to be taken in the use of terminology when encouraging women to continue to breastfeed beyond 12 months.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Determinants of Continued Breastfeeding at 12 and 24 Months: Results of an Australian Cohort Study

Jordan

Ahwong

Devenish

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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Breastfeeding to 12 months and beyond offers considerable health benefits to both infants and mothers. Despite these recognized benefits, relatively few women in high income countries breastfeed for 12 months, and rarely breastfeed to 24 months. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence and determinants of continued breastfeeding to 12 and 24 months amongst a cohort of Australian women participating in the Adelaide-based Study of Mothers’ and Infants’ Life Events affecting oral health (SMILE). Duration of breastfeeding was known for 1450 participants and was derived from feeding related data collected at birth, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between explanatory variables and continued breastfeeding to 12 and 24 months. In total, 31.8% of women breastfed to 12 months and 7.5% to 24 months. Women who were multiparous, university educated, had not returned to work by 12 months and whose partners preferred breastfeeding over bottle feeding were more likely to be breastfeeding at 12 months. While women who had introduced complementary foods before 17 weeks and formula at any age were less likely to be breastfeeding at 12 months. Mothers who were born in Asian countries other than India and China, had not returned to work by 12 months and had not introduced formula were more likely to be breastfeeding at 24 months. The majority of the determinants of continued breastfeeding are either modifiable or could be used to identify women who would benefit from additional breastfeeding support and encouragement.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of Continued Breastfeeding at 12 and 24 Months: Results of an Australian Cohort Study

Jordan

Ahwong

Devenish

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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“…6 The Australian cross sectional series by Meng et al 10 found that women, people older than 44 years, those born outside of Australia and those with lower education levels were more likely to suggest that breastfeeding in public was not acceptable. However in another American study, ethnicity, residential setting, age and education were not associated with comfort levels around breastfeeding in public 7 suggesting inconclusive international evidence around how these factors are associated with attitudes.…”

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confidence: 91%

“…6 Finally another online survey with 1036 American adults, mostly white and well educated, revealed that the women respondents were more comfortable with breastfeeding in public than the men. 7 Recent British evidence has incorporated attitudes and opinions shared on social media platforms. Online comments (n=884) relating to a project supporting women's rights to breastfeed in public in the United Kingdom found less than 10% were supportive of breastfeeding in public whereas 82% were negative.…”

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confidence: 99%

Women's experiences with breastfeeding in public: An integrative review

2021

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Background: Much evidence around public breastfeeding does not reflect experiences of the key stakeholder, the breastfeeding woman, and focuses upon the audience. Selective evidence has explored breastfeeding experiences revealing challenges with public breastfeeding as a serendipitous finding. Although women's experiences have been explored in specific contexts, insight into commonalities reflective of an international perspective is unknown.Objective: to explore, review and synthesise published literature on women's experience with public breastfeeding.Methods: An integrative review allows inclusion of findings beyond empirical evidence. Whittemore and Knafl's approach was used to capture and analyse evidence from varied sources to provide understanding of a phenomenon from diverse methodologies. PubMed, Medline, Ovid emBase, Scopus, Science Direct, the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature and PsychINFO were searched. Inclusion criteria included publications in English after 2005 offering descriptions of women's experiences. Data evaluation included assessment of literature quality. A constant comparison approach involved comparing, analysing and drawing similar concepts into themes. Findings:Integration of women's experience with public breastfeeding from 27 publications covering 12 countries revealed two key themes, what women shared as 'enhancing' and 'challenging'.Challenges included four subthemes: 'drawing attention', 'sexualisation of breasts', 'awareness of others' discomfort', and 'efforts not to be seen'. Enhancing incorporated subthemes: 'supportive audience' and 'confidence'. Conclusion:Challenges confirm an international commonality that women encounter during public breastfeeding suggesting a multilayered approach addressing community and societal behaviours is required. Insight to enhance public breastfeeding experiences offers direction to improve support.

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“…The survey was derived from the literature and permission was granted by Roche et al 17 to adapt an existing survey instrument. As well as collecting demographic data on maternal age, education level, and past and current breastfeeding practices, speci c Likert questions were included regarding the frequency of breastfeeding in public, locations, comfort levels generally and in front of particular people, partner support and how often they observed other mothers breastfeed in public.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Australian, Irish, and Swedish women’s comfort levels when breastfeeding in public

Gallagher

Brady

Kuliukas

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background Despite a flux of global initiatives to increase breastfeeding, disparate rates persist. The decision to commence and sustain breastfeeding is influenced by a myriad of variables, not least by the prospect of breastfeeding in public. Feelings of social embarrassment, shame, fear of judgement, and lack of confidence when breastfeeding in public, compound women’s decisions to breastfeed, and may result in formula feeding or early cessation of breastfeeding. A greater understanding of where and how women feel most comfortable when breastfeeding in public may assist in designing interventions to support the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding.Methods A cross-sectional survey was undertaken with women living in Ireland, Australia, or Sweden who were currently breastfeeding or who had breastfed within the previous two years. Our objective was to explore where, and how often women breastfeed in public and to compare women’s levels of comfort when breastfeeding in public. Data were collected in 2018 using an anonymous online survey over a four-week period in Ireland, Australia, or Sweden and were analysed using SPSS Version 25.Results Most respondents were well educated and the largest groups of respondents in each country were first time mothers. Seeing women breastfeed in public did vary and was more common in Sweden and Australia compared to Ireland. Most women in the participating countries breastfed in public whenever their baby needed feeding and very few women never or rarely breastfed in public. In terms of location, coffee shops/cafes, restaurants and parks were most popular. In all three countries, partners reported as supportive of breastfeeding in public and this added to breastfeeding women’s comfort levels. Comfort levels were very consistent across the three countries with women reporting higher levels of comfort when feeding with strangers than with those known to them.Conclusion This research offers important insights into the experiences and comfort levels of women breastfeeding in public. Limitations include the anonymous nature of the surveys, thus preventing follow-up, in addition to the variances in terminology used to describe locations across the three settings. Recommendations are made for research to determine the relationships between the frequency of breastfeeding in public and breastfeeding women’s perceived comfort levels, the influence of family members’ perceptions of breast feeding in public and women’s experiences, and the experience of women who feel uncomfortable while breastfeeding in public with a view to developing support measures.

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Opinions Toward Breastfeeding in Public and Appropriate Duration

Cited by 9 publications

References 9 publications

Determinants of Continued Breastfeeding at 12 and 24 Months: Results of an Australian Cohort Study

Determinants of Continued Breastfeeding at 12 and 24 Months: Results of an Australian Cohort Study

Women's experiences with breastfeeding in public: An integrative review

Australian, Irish, and Swedish women’s comfort levels when breastfeeding in public

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