Low-income mothers' views on breastfreeding

Nourishing infants presents women today with choices, desires, obligations and constraints. Despite mounting evidence about the health, psychosocial a nd societal benefits of breastfeeding both for women and infants, current b reastfeeding rates worldwide are far from optimal, particularly among low-i ncome women. Many mothers choose to use infant formula. Drawing from struct ured interviews with 154 mothers from an urban low-income multiethnic popul ation in the United States, a typology of mothers' feelings about their inf ant feeding method is developed. Findings indicate that regardless of their feeding method, mothers tended to attribute higher health benefits to brea stfeeding and perceived community norms as probreastfeeding. They differed in their rating and perceptions of logistics and the extent to which benefi ts mattered in their infant-feeding decision. Contradictions associated wit h the practice of breastfeeding even among mothers who breastfed, were refl ected in their perceptions of social disapproval of breastfeeding in public , reports of ridicule by friends, lack of support from some health provider s, and difficulties associated with working. A typology of mothers' emotion al states resulting from such contradictions summarizes the findings and un derscores how some mothers who did not, but would have liked to breastfeed, may be subjected to feelings of guilt and deprivation. Implications for ed ucational interventions are to amplify prenatal infant feeding consultation s and address ways to overcome logistical and apprehension barriers. (C) 20 00 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.