scholarly journals Getting the Green Light: Experiences of Icelandic Mothers Struggling with Breastfeeding

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 82-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunna Símonardóttir

The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, with continued breastfeeding up to two years of age or beyond. This policy has been adopted by the Nordic countries, including Iceland, where there has been an upward trend towards higher breastfeeding rates and duration. The high breastfeeding rates in Iceland indicate that the idea that all women should breastfeed is culturally very strong. Exclusive breastfeeding is constructed as a pillar of successful bonding and absolutely paramount when it comes to promoting the close primary relationship between mother and child. Previous research on breastfeeding from a socio-cultural point of view remains very much rooted in an Anglo-American context and has mostly been conducted in countries where breastfeeding rates remain relatively low and the cultural context of breastfeeding similar. This paper addresses that particular knowledge gap by making visible the identity work that Icelandic mothers perform in order to be able to construct themselves as “good” responsible mothers and how dominant biomedical discourses on infant feeding and ‘good mothering’ discursively position women as powerless and unable to make decisions on breastfeeding cessation. The reaction that they experience from their immediate surroundings indicates that their ‘failures’ in breastfeeding can rarely be constructed as anything other than a personal shortcoming. Whilst the surveillance that they come to expect from other mothers and the general public results in them having to account for their ‘lack’ of breastfeeding in order to avert the hostile gaze of others.

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 312-319
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Shortis

Background The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life; however, UK breastfeeding rates are some of the lowest worldwide. As such, various interventions have been trialled, aiming to increase breastfeeding rates. Aims To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to increase breastfeeding rates in the UK and determine the features of successful interventions. Methods A literature search was performed, using four databases. The results were refined by applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Two additional articles were recognised by scanning the references sections of identified studies, resulting in 12 articles for review. Findings Support-based interventions had predominantly insignificant effects upon breastfeeding rates. Incentives were associated with increases in rates, while combined interventions had mixed success. The interventions were well received by mothers and clinicians and may help to normalise breastfeeding. Conclusions Future interventions should provide targeted, personalised support to overcome breastfeeding difficulties, and reward mothers for their efforts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zohreh Shahhosseini ◽  
Masoumeh Simbar ◽  
Ali Ramezankhani

Abstract Aim: Although characteristics of health-promoting schools are mentioned in the World Health Organization guidelines, different countries need to design more details of indicators for assessing these schools according to their social and cultural context. The aim of this study was to investigate characteristics of health-promoting schools from Iranian adolescent girls’ point of view. Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, 2010 middle school and high school female adolescents were selected from randomly selected schools in Mazandaran province, Iran. They completed a self-completion questionnaire around their views about characteristics of health- promoting schools. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an independent t-test. Results: It is revealed that from Iranian adolescents’ point of view the most important feature of health-promoting schools was the schools with no stressful exams and where notices are kindly given to students for their mistakes. Conclusion: The results suggest that there is a need for more measurable standards of health-promoting schools based on the socio-cultural context of both developing and developed countries.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abeer Salem Al Shahrani ◽  
Hessah Mamdouh Hushan ◽  
Noura Khalid Binjamaan ◽  
Wajd Abdulrahman Binhuwaimel ◽  
Jawaher Jazaa Alotaibi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that breastfeeding is initiated within an hour of birth and breastfeeding exclusively is performed for the first six months. However, the exclusive breastfeeding rate is dropping in most countries. In this study, we aimed to assess the breastfeeding cessation rate during the early post-partum period. Moreover, we aimed to prospectively identify the risk factors for early breastfeeding cessation during hospitalization and after discharge.Methods: This prospective study included all post-partum women who had given birth to full term, singleton, and healthy newborns and were breastfeeding at discharge from Mar – Jun 2020 at King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAAUH) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With an instrument that was designed based on previous studies, data were collected at the time of admission and 10 – 14 days and 6 – 8 weeks post-partum.Results: This study included 136 mothers. The mean age of the participants was 29.5 ±5.07 years, and the majority of the participants had a bachelor’s degree and were unemployed. A total of 37.5% of the participants were exclusively breastfeeding their newborns for the first two weeks; however, this rate later dropped to 19%. However, bottle feeding was performed by two-thirds of the participants for the first 2 weeks, and this rate increased to 80.9% at 6 – 8 weeks post-partum. Many factors, such as maternal age, the mode of delivery and previous breastfeeding experience, were strongly associated with breastfeeding. Bottle feeding was associated with maternal age as well as employment status.Conclusions: This study reported an unacceptably low exclusive breastfeeding rate within the first two months post-partum. Multiple factors were strongly associated with breastfeeding, and some of them were modifiable. Moreover, more attention should be given to mothers who have a high risk for early breastfeeding cessation, such as employed mothers.Trial registration: Not applicable


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Bellù ◽  
Manuela Condò

Although breastfeeding is associated with many health benefits in children and mothers, and World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age and continued breastfeeding until 2 years of age, overall breastfeeding rates remain low. Italian rates of exclusive breastfeeding do not differ from international data. The aim of this review is to evaluate evidence of breastfeeding promotion interventions and the remaining problems to achieve them. We found that breastfeeding support is a complex system of interventions, including individual, structural and environmental factors. Many systematic reviews report evidence that breastfeeding support offered to women increases duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding, both in full term healthy newborns and in preterm infants. Political and economic efforts should be made to ensure breastfeeding support to all women in the different settings, assuming it as a collective target.


Author(s):  
Rahma Dewi Agustini ◽  
Sri Wahyuni ◽  
Kartin L. Buheli ◽  
Ika Suherlin

The World Health Organization (WHO) urges all mothers to exclusively breastfeed until their babies are 6 months old. Breastfeeding alone without complementary foods until the age of 6 months has enormous benefits for the development and growth of infants and strengthens the affection between mother and child. However, the amount of exclusive breastfeeding coverage is still low. Data from the Health Service in 2018 only 46% received exclusive breastfeeding even though the national exclusive breastfeeding target was 80%. This study aims to analyze the factors that influence exclusive breastfeeding in the working area of the Puskesmas which was carried out for one month. The crosssectional study design was conducted on 101 mothers with babies between 6 and 12 months who were selected by random sampling. The results of the chi-square analysis showed that there was an influence on age (p=0.001), parity (p=0.000), education (p=0.002), and knowledge (p=0.001). Conclusion: The percentage of failure to give exclusive breastfeeding is still high, with the factors of age, parity, education, and knowledge being very influential, so prevention efforts are needed that must be emphasized to mothers before giving birth.


Author(s):  
Trapti Sharma ◽  
R. P. Nagar ◽  
R. C. Gaur ◽  
Pooja Gupta ◽  
Charanjit Kaur

In Rajasthan state the ground waters of some areas like Ramganj-mandi, Morak, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Chittor and Udaipur etc. are susceptible from drinking point of view.To test the quality of groundwater in Chittor district 14, ground water samples were collected from various places and analyzed for pH, E.C., Fluoride and Nitrate parameters by standard methods (A.P.H. A., Washington, USA, 1995). The study revealed that none of the ground waters was found suitable completely from drinking point of view. Some are having electrical conductivity > 1.4 dS/m, some are having pH >8.5, some area having fluoride >1.5 ppm and some are having nitrate>45 ppm. These are the limits of various parameters permitted by various International authorities like Bureau of Indian Standard, Indian Council of Medical Research,world health Organization etc. for drinking waters. So, it is recommended to the residents of above areas to use water for drinking purpose only after reverse osmosis or adopting suitable method of removing excess of Fluoride and Nitrate for drinking water to avoid unwanted pathogenic diseases harmful for human health.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
MUH Begum

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) emphasize the value of breastfeeding for mothers as well as children. Both recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. Human breast milk is the healthiest form of milk for babies. Breastfeeding promotes health and helps to prevent diseases including diarrheal diseases. It contains all nutrients including antibodies (IgA),and lactoferrin, that potentially prevent infection and diarrhea in infants and children. Studies conducted in both developed and under developed nations have found that breast feeding is associated with significantly ( upto 64%) less diarrheal disease and the protective effect of breast feeding does not persist beyond two months after breast feeding is stopped. On the other hand, formula fed infants are found an upto 80% increased in the risk of developing diarrhea compared to breast fed infants and there is significantly more diarrheal disease in formula fed infants. Infection may be attributable to contamination of bottles, teats, milk, and food in infants who are not exclusively breastfed. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and there after complementary feedings while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond, enthusiastic support and involvement from clinicians, obstetricians and pediatricians, are essential in “breastfeeding vs formula feeding” issue and to reduce incidence of diarrheal diseases in infants and children. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbcps.v32i1.21033 J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2014; 32: 26-30


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Karima Soamole

Abstract : It is estimated that 80% of mothers who gave birth were able to produce milk in quantities sufficient for the purposes of the baby in full without any additional food and according to the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until the age of 4-6 months baby. Annually, more than 25,000 babies Indonesia and 1.3 million babies around the world can be saved by exclusive breastfeeding in 1999, while according to the 2000 report, the WHO approximately 1.5 million children die because they are not feeding properly, less than 15% infants worldwide are given for four months of exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding is often inappropriate and unsafe. This research is explanatory research because it explains the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable through hypothesis testing. The method used in this study is a survey method with cross sectional study design. The population in this study are all mothers who breastfeed in Puskesmas Kalumata 2012. Knowledge of the highest in the category of knowledge of both 81 (95.3%) and the behavior of the Exclusive breastfeeding is highest among respondents with a good knowledge of the 55 categories (67.9%). Respondents' attitudes toward breastfeeding Exclusive showed much respondeng that supports 54 (63.5%) and 31 (36.5%) that does not support exclusive breastfeeding her baby. Family Support tehadap respondents in the most exclusive breastfeeding: supporting respondents in exclusive breastfeeding her baby 64 (75.3%) and 21 (24.7%) who did not support the.


2021 ◽  
pp. 106648072110524
Author(s):  
Maria Sajan ◽  
Kriti Kakar ◽  
Umair Majid

The effects of suicide are both widespread and long-lasting in the lives of those closest to the deceased. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide is the third leading cause of death in adolescents. Some research has shown that families who lose someone to suicide are at a higher risk of complicated grief compared to those bereaving from other types of losses. These risks may be emphasized given the socio-cultural context surrounding suicide that may problematize the grieving process. In this review, we analyzed 58 qualitative studies describing the experiences of family who lost someone to suicide. We discuss how negative social interactions due to cultural views towards suicide impacted their grieving process. We provide an integrative interpretation of the experiences of family who lost someone to suicide across the following themes: social withdrawal, family communication approaches, role change, cultural attitudes, the role of professional support, interactions with health care providers, and interactions with religious institutions. We examine these findings using the Assumptive World Theory which proposes that humans seek preservation of their reality by using their perceptions of the past to establish expectations for the future. We find that suicide loss is an experience that challenges people's assumptive worlds; suicide loss can be an unexpected trauma that can have a “shock effect” on the assumptive worlds of the bereaved. The assumptive worlds of relatives grieving suicide loss face unique challenges compared to other forms of bereavement because of ambiguity in social norms surrounding suicide that influence interactions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Emanuele Napoli ◽  
Matteo Nioi ◽  
Ernesto d’Aloja ◽  
Maurizio Fossarello

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an important health problem that was defined as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. Although great concern has been expressed about COVID-19 infection acquired through ocular transmission, its underlying mechanism has not currently been clarified. In the current work, we analyzed and elucidated the two main elements that should be taken into account to understand the “ocular route”, both from a clinical and molecular point of view. They are represented by the dynamism of the ocular surface system (e.g., the tear film turnover) and the distribution of ACE2 receptors and TMPRSS2 protein. Although it seems, at the moment, that there is a low risk of coronavirus spreading through tears, it may survive for a long time or replicate in the conjunctiva, even in absence of conjunctivitis signs, indicating that eye protection (e.g., protective goggles alone or in association with face shield) is advisable to prevent contamination from external droplets and aerosol.


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