Facilitators and Challenges to Breastfeeding Among Postpartum Individuals in Western North Carolina

Authors' Affiliations

Melissa White-Archer, Department of Health Services Management and Policy, College of Public Health, Center for Applied Research and Evaluation in Women's Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. Kayla Winfield, Center for Applied Research and Evaluation in Women's Health, Johnson City, TN. Kate Beatty, Department of Health Services Management and Policy, College of Public Health, Center for Applied Research and Evaluation in Women's Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN.

Location

D.P. Culp Center Room 311

Start Date

4-5-2024 3:30 PM

End Date

4-5-2024 4:30 PM

Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor

Liane Ventura

Faculty Sponsor's Department

Health Services Management and Policy

Competition Type

Competitive

Type

Oral Presentation

Presentation Category

Health

Abstract or Artist's Statement

Breastfeeding provides health benefits for postpartum individuals and their infants. Healthy People 2030 seeks to increase 6-months exclusive breastfeeding to 42%, which has had little or no detectable change. North Carolina breastfeeding rates fall below this goal. As such, there is a continued need for research to close these gaps, particularly in South Central Appalachia. This work sought to contribute to the broader reproductive justice literature, by identifying facilitators and challenges to breastfeeding among postpartum individuals in Western North Carolina using the framework of Social Cognitive Theory. Postpartum individuals living in Western North Carolina, were recruited to complete semi-structured key informant interviews. To participate, respondents needed to be over the age of 18, have breastfed their current infant for any length of time, and have given birth within the past year. Interviews were recorded and transcribed by a third-party service. First, a rapid analytic approach was applied whereby two coders summarized each transcript into a summary matrix. Then two coders employed the Sort & Sift, Think & Shift method, rooted in grounded theory, to allow themes to emerge from throughout the dataset. Memos and quotation diagrams were used to systematically determine emergent themes. Sixteen postpartum individuals participated. Respondents discussed social support systems as a key facilitator of breastfeeding, including community, provider, and family/partner support. As one respondent emphasized, "My husband is very supportive when I need to sit down to nurse our baby. He will cook dinner; he will play with the other children.” Similarly, knowledge of and previous experiences with breastfeeding facilitates breastfeeding efforts. Notably, a respondent mentioned, “I knew this my second time around, but the first time, when I had my first child, I just didn’t realize that hydration was such a big deal.” Respondents indicated that a lack of support and the mental health impact of breastfeeding posed challenges. Notably, one participant mentioned, “I wish that I had had the support that I have now. I wish that I had access to support to lactation consultants, and I wish that I had known that it was okay to ask for help." The impact of mental health included bodily challenges, a lack of sleep, and the overall mental load of breastfeeding. For example, one respondent explained, “Aside from physical pain, you also have that pain from having to waste your milk…My pain, tears, my hard work and having a healthy diet to be able to produce this amount of milk. You just feel all types of pain, physically and mentally.” Social support systems are imperative to successful breastfeeding efforts, as they can help to alleviate the mental health impact of breastfeeding, and provide education to increase self-efficacy for breastfeeding individuals. Accommodating contextual factors are also important including paid family leave and workplace policies. Incorporating the topic of breastfeeding as part of the broader reproductive justice literature may help to emphasize and subsequently reduce the systemic barriers to breastfeeding, such as a lack of paid family leave.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Apr 5th, 3:30 PM Apr 5th, 4:30 PM

Facilitators and Challenges to Breastfeeding Among Postpartum Individuals in Western North Carolina

D.P. Culp Center Room 311

Breastfeeding provides health benefits for postpartum individuals and their infants. Healthy People 2030 seeks to increase 6-months exclusive breastfeeding to 42%, which has had little or no detectable change. North Carolina breastfeeding rates fall below this goal. As such, there is a continued need for research to close these gaps, particularly in South Central Appalachia. This work sought to contribute to the broader reproductive justice literature, by identifying facilitators and challenges to breastfeeding among postpartum individuals in Western North Carolina using the framework of Social Cognitive Theory. Postpartum individuals living in Western North Carolina, were recruited to complete semi-structured key informant interviews. To participate, respondents needed to be over the age of 18, have breastfed their current infant for any length of time, and have given birth within the past year. Interviews were recorded and transcribed by a third-party service. First, a rapid analytic approach was applied whereby two coders summarized each transcript into a summary matrix. Then two coders employed the Sort & Sift, Think & Shift method, rooted in grounded theory, to allow themes to emerge from throughout the dataset. Memos and quotation diagrams were used to systematically determine emergent themes. Sixteen postpartum individuals participated. Respondents discussed social support systems as a key facilitator of breastfeeding, including community, provider, and family/partner support. As one respondent emphasized, "My husband is very supportive when I need to sit down to nurse our baby. He will cook dinner; he will play with the other children.” Similarly, knowledge of and previous experiences with breastfeeding facilitates breastfeeding efforts. Notably, a respondent mentioned, “I knew this my second time around, but the first time, when I had my first child, I just didn’t realize that hydration was such a big deal.” Respondents indicated that a lack of support and the mental health impact of breastfeeding posed challenges. Notably, one participant mentioned, “I wish that I had had the support that I have now. I wish that I had access to support to lactation consultants, and I wish that I had known that it was okay to ask for help." The impact of mental health included bodily challenges, a lack of sleep, and the overall mental load of breastfeeding. For example, one respondent explained, “Aside from physical pain, you also have that pain from having to waste your milk…My pain, tears, my hard work and having a healthy diet to be able to produce this amount of milk. You just feel all types of pain, physically and mentally.” Social support systems are imperative to successful breastfeeding efforts, as they can help to alleviate the mental health impact of breastfeeding, and provide education to increase self-efficacy for breastfeeding individuals. Accommodating contextual factors are also important including paid family leave and workplace policies. Incorporating the topic of breastfeeding as part of the broader reproductive justice literature may help to emphasize and subsequently reduce the systemic barriers to breastfeeding, such as a lack of paid family leave.