How To Write A Critique Of Breastfeeding

The audience intended for this paper are mothers that have a desire to breastfeed, employers, clinicians, breastfeeding advocacy groups and federal and state legislators involved in policy change.

The World Health Organization suggests that mothers solely breastfeed for the first six months of life, and continue to use breast milk to supplement the child’s diet for up to two years and beyond. Despite this being encouraged all around the world, the percentage of mothers who actually follow this advice is only high in developing countries. In these countries, over 99% of mothers typically begin breastfeeding newborns, and many children continue to be breastfed through their second year (Brown, 2015). In developed countries, the percentage drops drastically. In the UK, and similarly in America, Australia, and much of Europe, the percentage of mothers who begin breastfeeding is high, 81%, but the percentage drops to just 55% at six weeks. Norway experienced similar percentages in the 1970s, but there has been a culture change that has led to 98% of mothers breastfeeding at

DiGirolamo, A., Grummer-Strawn, L., & Fein, S. (2008). Effect of Maternity-Care Practices on Breastfeeding. Pediatrics , S43-S49.

A lot of mothers are not being told how wonderful breastfeeding is for their health. Whether out of inexperience or due to the impact of the artificial baby milk industry, many health care providers fail to let mothers know of the facts. As other new mothers find out about these facts, more mothers will not merely choose to breastfeed for a short period of time to provide early disease control for their baby, but will continue to breastfeed, providing the best results both for their child and for

In this article, “The Ideal and the Real of Breast-Feeding” by Jane E. Brody, Brody brings some good points to light. The campaign to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months in today’s society is becoming increasingly prevalent by health care providers, lactation consultants, and other organizations. Brody’s notable outlook on breastfeeding stems from her own personal experiences with her twin boys. The ever increasing numbers of reasons one should breastfeed and how important it is for the health of the child to continue to grow. As the textbook, “How Children Develop” by Robert Siegler, shows it is a natural life source. Mammals use breast milk as a source of nutrition for their young. Humans have become more reliant on formula feeding.

Two authors independently evaluated each article for relevant using a predefined set of criteria. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were specified and were appropriate for the review. The researchers were concerned with the effect education and support for the mothers had on the exclusive breastfeeding rates of healthy newborns. Inclusion criteria included randomized controlled trials (RCT) or quasi-experimental trails. The types of articles included are those that discussed interventions through education or support given to the mother prenatal/postnatal, or a combination. All delivery types were included. For

“Breast feeding rates in developed countries such as the UK, Australia and the US are typically lower than World Health Organisation goals” Parkinson (2010) 3. From a study carried out by Queensland university stressed the importance of not only the delivery of literature on how effective breastfeeding is for your babies health but that what was also needed to increase the number of breast feeders was to give personal support and explains social and environmental benefits also. When they looked at the UK in particular, Parkinson (2010) 3 stated “women already understood that breastfeeding was good for their baby, and what they needed were the tools to help them to breastfeed longer. From this it is clear that although effective and sufficient information around the benefits of the child is being addressed, there is no sufficient information or skills being given direct to the parents in order for them to carry this out for any length of time. Another piece of research was carried out in 2010 on ways to change the paradigm of breastfeeding, from encouraging promotion of breast feeding within the employment setting.

Breastfeeding is a healthy, natural ability of every woman, and should therefore be socially acceptable and supported by everyone. For some reason this is not the case in our society, in fact breastfeeding continues to be a controversial issue that must be addressed by women’s rights activist groups. Breastfeeding is a feminist issue because the natural act has been medicalized and devalued by major companies because of their interests in profits in bottle feeding. According to Penny Van Esterik a coordinator in the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), women should never have to choose between their duties as a mother and their duties as a responsible, hard working employee. Our society pressures, exploits and oppresses women

Twenty one to one interviews were conducted with women who have had babies within one year. Half are currently breastfeeding and half are not breastfeeding at all but were at the time of birth. Ages range from 20 to 34. I will first discuss the women who are not breastfeeding. There were several motives expressed as reasons why breastfeeding was not successful, but the overwhelming underlying reason was lack of proper education. Motives listed in order of most frequent were pain associated with breastfeeding (3), lack adequate milk supply (3), infection from oversupply (1), lack of pumping time/space at work (2), wanted baby to sleep longer (1), and family members not being supportive (2). Concurrently, in literature, lack of adequate milk supply and returning to work were the two main reasons women stopped breastfeeding (Arlotti, Cottrell, Lee, & Curtin, 1998). The women that reported pain as the reason for not continuing to breastfeed never sought out a lactation consultation, and felt like their primary care provider was not well versed in lactation in general. The women who stopped breastfeeding due to inadequate milk supply all became frustrated and stopped at a common infant growth spurt phase suggesting that education on growth spurts and how the supply and demand system work may have been beneficial. The women who stopped breastfeeding due to pumping concerns at work were not educated on the state laws regarding breastfeeding and that the law mandates a reasonable

of society's views on breastfeeding mothers, even though breastfeeding is known to be the optimum

Many of the reports that acknowledge the negative health effects, still recognize that the benefits of breastfeeding out way these potential consequences (Gascon, 2012). This view is also acknowledged by the WHO and Health Canada who state that infants should be exclusively breastfeed to 6 months of age, and then breastfed accompanied by age appropriate foods until 2 years of age (http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-ps/dca-dea/stages-etapes/childhood-enfance_0-2/nutrition/index-eng.php and http://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/chemical-risks/pops/en/index1.html).

It is not uncommon for parents, especially mothers, to feel disconnected from their parental role while their infant is in the NICU because they are not very involved with their infant’s care (Boucher et al., 2011). The parents’ lack of interaction can be very detrimental to their emotional status. Mothers often associate breastfeeding with the idea of “good mothering,” and a way of nurturing the infant. Lack of breastfeeding can occur for numerous reasons, one being lack of knowledge. Mom’s may lack knowledge about breastfeeding and the nutritional benefits due to missing classes because of pregnancy complication and pre-term delivery. During a NICU study it was found that when incorporating a lactation consultant as a member of the NICU healthcare team, infants are more likely to benefit from breastfeeding, and mothers are more likely to maintain a milk supply (Dweck et al., 2008). This information may be very crucial for future NICU policies. These are just a few of the many barriers in the

“Breastfeeding is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants; it is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers” Statement taken from the world health organization publication on the nutrition of exclusive breastfeeding.

This breastfeeding case study evaluates the experiences of a 31-year-old, G3, P3 woman named Jade. She is of average build and European descent. Verbal consent from the woman was obtained and names have been changed to maintain confidentiality. Jade experienced various issues relating to breastfeeding but the main focus for this case study will be mastitis. According to Cusack & Brennan (2011), one in five women can develop lactational mastitis which is being specified as a contributing factor for the early cessation of breastfeeding. The New Zealand Breastfeeding Authority [NZBA], (2015) vision is to see breastfeeding becoming the socially accepted norm within New Zealand. This supports the New Zealand Ministry of Health [MOH] (2014) and World

Breastfeeding is an experience that is foreign for most people until they actually experience it. I had limited knowledge of breastfeeding until I interviewed my friend who currently has two children. Before she had her first child, she read a lot of books and watched a lot of videos, but they still didn’t quite capture the experience. She is a nurse and with her healthcare background, she felt confident about the importance of breastfeeding her children, especially in the first 6 -12 months. Before her baby, she was worried about the physical process and what it would feel like. After birth, she was more worried about her baby being able to breastfeed. For the first few weeks, her baby was having a hard time breastfeeding and she had to occasionally