Perceptions and Practices of Infant Feeding among African American Women

Deubel, Tara F.; Miller, Elizabeth M.; Hernández, Ivonne; Boyer, Micah; Louis‐Jacques, Adetola

doi:10.1080/03670244.2019.1598977

Cited by 28 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…For instance, some relatives, peers, and close neighbors claimed that breastfed infants become overly dependent on their mother; such myths pressurized women to initiate formula supplementation. 23 Formula supplementation was seen as inexpensive, required less time, and allowed women to manage and maintain their social life. 20,37 Conversely, social media engagement brought shifts in maternal BF beliefs and perceptions, 38 which resulted in increased willingness to breastfeed beyond the infant's first year.…”

Section: Theme One: Cultural Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19,39 Support recommendations included paid maternity leave, absence of dissuasive remarks, encouragement toward maternal BF efforts, access to electric pumps, and insurance coverage for BF pumps. 19,23 Women were optimistic that addressing these factors will overcome stigma around public BF. 26 Moreover, the need to promote national policies favorable to BF at the workplace was recommended.…”

Section: Theme Two: Sociological Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…32 In addition, BF role models were noted to be important in the BF experience of AAs. 20,23,41 Such role models focused on emotional, tangible, informational, and encouragement interventions for women. Older sisters and grandmothers were recognized as the best suited for such roles.…”

Section: Theme Two: Sociological Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notably, inadequate social support, 4,12,14,15 various forms of prejudices, 16 racism, 17 misconceptions about BF versus formula feeding, 18 insufficient financial resources, 16,19,20 as well as personal factors such as low selfefficacy, negative attitudes, unwillingness to breastfeed, misconceptions about the benefits, 21,22 and inadequate resources. 23 Support is a critical factor in addressing these challenges to meet and sustain BF practice. 4,15,24 AA women who obtain some forms of support from relatives, health staff, and employers are more motivated to breastfeed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Black/African American Breastfeeding Experience: Cultural, Sociological, and Health Dimensions Through an Equity Lens

Gyamfi

O’Neill

Henderson

et al. 2021

Breastfeeding Medicine

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Background: Disparities in breastfeeding (BF) continue to be a public health challenge, as currently only 42% of infants in the world and 25.6% of infants in the United States are exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life. In 2019, the infants least likely to be exclusively breastfed at 6 months are African Americans (AA) (17.2%). Materials and Methods: A scoping review of the literature was undertaken by using Arksey and O'Malley's sixstage framework to determine key themes of AA women's experience BF through an equity lens. Electronic databases of CINAHL and PubMed were searched for peer-reviewed, full-text articles written in the English language within the past 5 years by using the terms BF, AA, Black, sociological, cultural, equity, health, attitude, exposure, initiation, continuation, barriers, and facilitators. Results: Initially, 497 articles were identified, and 26 peer-reviewed articles met the eligibility criteria. Through an equity lens, three main themes emerged, which summarized AA women's BF experience: cultural (family, peers and community support; misconceptions; personal factors), sociological (prejudices, racism, home environment; financial status; sexuality issues; BF role models; employment policies), and health dimensions (family involvement; timely and honest information from staff; baby-friendly hospital initiatives; postnatal follow-up; special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children). Conclusion: For AA women, exclusively BF is beset with diverse cultural, health, and sociological challenges. Multifaceted approaches are needed for successful resolution of BF challenges to bridge the racial gap in BF in the United States. Future studies may explore interventions targeted to modifiable barriers to improve BF outcomes.

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Section: Theme One: Cultural Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theme Two: Sociological Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theme Two: Sociological Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Black/African American Breastfeeding Experience: Cultural, Sociological, and Health Dimensions Through an Equity Lens

Gyamfi

O’Neill

Henderson

et al. 2021

Breastfeeding Medicine

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“…It is possible that discomfort around telelactation might transcend socio-demographic groups, but willingness to adopt telelactation varies across socio-demographic groups. Black, lower income, and unmarried women have disparate breastfeeding outcomes and encounter many barriers and challenges in achieving their personal breastfeeding goals [24][25][26][27][28]. Our findings suggest that mothers who are unwilling to use telelactation might overlap with groups at risk for poor breastfeeding outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Modesty and Security: Attributes Associated With Comfort and Willingness to Engage in Telelactation

Louis‐Jacques¹,

Schafer²,

Livingston³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The objectives were to identify conditions under which mothers may be willing to use telelactation and explore associations between participant characteristics, willingness, and beliefs regarding telelactation use. Mothers 2-8 weeks postpartum were recruited from two Florida maternal care sites and surveyed to assess demographics, breastfeeding initiation, and potential telelactation use. Analyses included descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Of the 88 participants, most were white, married, earned less than $50,000 per year, had access to technology, and were willing to use telelactation if it was free (80.7%) or over a secure server (63.6%). Fifty-six percent were willing to use telelactation if it involved feeding the baby without a cover, but only 45.5% were willing if their nipples may be seen. Those with higher odds of willingness to use telelaction under these modesty conditions were experienced using videochat, white, married, and of higher income. Mothers with security concerns had six times the odds of being uncomfortable with telelactation compared to mothers without concerns. While telelactation can improve access to critical services, willingness to use telelactation may depend on conditions of use and sociodemographics. During the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, these findings offer important insights for lactation professionals implementing virtual consultations.

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