Benefits Of Breastfeeding Practice For Infant Health †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Benefits Of Breastfeeding Practice For Infant Health. Answer: Breastfeeding is regarded as the most beneficial practice for maintaining optimal growth of infants and reducing childhood morbidity. Breastfeeding is the best approach to providing the ideal food for the growth and development of infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breast feeding practices for six months and initiation of the practice within the first hours of babys life (Exclusive breastfeeding, 2017).However, the issue is that many mothers fail to continue breastfeeding due to personal and societal barriers. The purpose of this essay is to find out the barriers to exclusive breast feeding practices and find out the best approach to promote breastfeeding amongnursing mothers. Breastfeeding is well-recognized and highly recommended for the first six months innursing mothers. Exclusive breastfeeding may be defined as the practice of giving only breast milk to infants without mixing it with other supplements or liquids for the first six months. The health benefit of breastfeeding is that it reduces the risk of otitis media, urinary tract infection and gastrointestinal infection in infants and mothers are able to return back to their normal weight very easily. However, despite well-recognized benefit and importance of exclusive breastfeeding, very fewnursing mothers follow the practice globally. The analysis of breastfeeding practice in the world has revealed that only 45% of newborn are given breast milk within the first hours of work and the less than 50% women engage in exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months (Infant and Young Child Feeding - UNICEF DATA, 2017).In the context of Maldives, the rate of breastfeeding is better than global data. 64% o f the newborn are breastfed within the first hours. However, the main concern is that exclsive breast feeding below six months was only 48% (Maldives Health Profile 2016, 2017).Hence, very few infants are getting the ideal nutrition that they require for growth and development. Due to the poor practice of breastfeeding amongnursing mothers, it is necessary to identify the barrier influencing continued breastfeeding. Firstly, duration of feeding is affected by breast problems like sore nipple, insufficiency to produce milk, breast engorgement. This was also found in research study done to evaluated barrier to breast feeding practice in Jordan (Abuidhail et al., 2014). Secondly, in developing countries many other societal barriers prevent continued breastfeeding practice among mothers. Many mothers are not able to do so because of employment and career commitment. They do not get maternity leave for a long period of time and the need to resume work prevents mother from continuing breastfeeding. For this reason, may mothers rely on infant formulas and other supplements to meet the nutritional needs of their infants when they are at office (Mirkovic et al., 2014). Hence, flexible work scheduling is a necessary step to support mothers and achieve the goals of br eastfeeding. Another study gave the insight that barrier to breastfeeding is seen because of wrong perception of mothers that their infants are hungry because of breast milk and other infant formula is good to satisfy their infants and calm them (Abuidhail et al., 2014). Apart from this, difference in breastfeeding rate is seen due to the cultural mindset of women. For instance, young and full time employed mothers are less likely to breastfeed their Indian. Another barrier is the sexualization of breast and the perception among people that breast should not be displayed in public. Hence, many women are not able visualize the breast to provide nutrition to their child in all places. Husbands also discourage their wife to breastfeed because of concern regarding overall personality and body shape due to breastfeeding (Rollins et al., 2016). Research also points out to psychosocial barriers of breastfeeding where women do not opt for breastfeeding because of fear of unattractive breast, less freedom and inability to supply enough milk. This is seen mainly due to cultural upbring and poor knowledge about the benefits of breastfeeding among mothers (Ping, 2014). The recommended breastfeeding practices by WHO is also influenced by the impact breastfeeding technology. For instance, there is an increase in uptake of breast pumps among mothers when they are working or traveling or moving out. However, use of such pumps cause adverse events such as discomfort, damage of breast tissue and contamination of breast milk. It also has an impact on maternal infant interaction (Buckley, 2009). Hence, medical technology is minimizing the maternal roles and its use should be restricted to those mother who are in real need for such technology. Breastfeeding is also influenced by the relationship of mothers with relatives and the health care professionals. Their cultural background or upbringing my either support or restrict them to breast feed their infants. However, mothers are likely to improve breastfeeding practice if they get relevant information related to the benefits of breastfeeding from clinicians or nurses. Hence, health care professionals can play a key role in promoting lactation. Their encouragement and role in educating mothers about the risk associated with infant formula and the health benefits of breast milk for their child is likely to change the attitude of mothers towards breastfeeding (Edwards et al, 2015). Breastfeeding can also be regarded as a culturally defined behavior because cultural preference also affects nursing womens decision on infant feeding. The nurse can also play a role in changing the meaning of breastfeeding among nursing mothers. They can play a role in recognizing and resolving difficulties faced by mothers in nurturing their child during breastfeeding. They can play a role in teaching the right process of breastfeeding. The study regarding the perspective of nurses regarding the clinical management of breastfeeding has showed that nurses must be aware of scientific and technical knowledge related to physiology of lactation. With such knowledge, they can educate the mothers regarding the proper positioning during breastfeeding and using other means to supply breast milk instead of feeding bottles and other infant formula (Azevedo et al., 2015). Active listening might also be important to understand what isssues nursing mothers faced during such process. However, for nurses, maintaining the ethics of care is important which is related to following the principle of autonomy. For instance, they can only educate and encourage mothers to continue breastfeeding for six months, however the final decision regarding management of breast feeding lies exclusively in mothers hands. The essay presented and summarized the benefits of breastfeeding practice for infant health and the barriers affecting the recommended rate of breastfeeding among mothers. Certain biological, social, culture and psychological factors affects the attitudes and behaviors of mothers regarding breastfeeding their child and the clinicians and nurses can play a major role in addressing the issues faced by mother. With proper education regarding management of breast feeding, health care professionals can influence breast feeding rate and practices in the target community. References Abuidhail, J., Al-Modallal, H., Yousif, R., Almresi, N. (2014). Exclusive breast feeding (EBF) in Jordan: Prevalence, duration, practices, and barriers.Midwifery,30(3), 331-337. Azevedo, A. R. R., Alves, V. H., Souza, R. D. M. P. D., Rodrigues, D. P., Branco, M. B. L. R., Cruz, A. F. D. N. D. (2015). Clinical management of breastfeeding: knowledge of nurses.Escola Anna Nery,19(3), 439-445. Buckley, K. M. (2009). A double-edged sword: lactation consultants' perceptions of the impact of breast pumps on the practice of breastfeeding.The Journal of perinatal education,18(2), 13. Edwards, R. A., Colchamiro, R., Tolan, E., Browne, S., Foley, M., Jenkins, L., ... Forgit, J. (2015). Online continuing education for expanding clinicians roles in breastfeeding support.Journal of Human Lactation,31(4), 582-586. Exclusive breastfeeding. (2017).World Health Organization. Retrieved 18 September 2017, from https://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/exclusive_breastfeeding/en/ Infant and Young Child Feeding - UNICEF DATA. (2017).UNICEF DATA. Retrieved 18 September 2017, from https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/infant-and-young-child-feeding/# Maldives Health Profile 2016. (2017).https://health.gov.mv. Retrieved 18 September 2017, from https://health.gov.mv/Uploads/Downloads//Informations/Informations(73).pdf Mirkovic, K. R., Perrine, C. G., Scanlon, K. S., Grummer-Strawn, L. M. (2014). Maternity leave duration and full-time/part-time work status are associated with US mothers ability to meet breastfeeding intentions.Journal of Human Lactation,30(4), 416-419. Ping, E. (2014). Keeping Abreast of the Multiple Biological, Cultural, and Psycho-Social Barriers to Breastfeeding in Modern Society.Kultura-Spo?ecze?stwo-Edukacja, (1 (5)). Rollins, N. C., Bhandari, N., Hajeebhoy, N., Horton, S., Lutter, C. K., Martines, J. C., ... Group, T. L. B. S. (2016). Why invest, and what it will take to improve breastfeeding practices?.The Lancet,387(10017), 491-504.