Advising women to breastfeed exclusively for six months is not helpful, according to a new study.
Health on Female First
Recommendations that babies should be breastfed for six months, without introducing solid foods or other liquids, is considered 'unrealistic and anachievable' by many families, experts from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Stirling argue.
The experts carried about 220 interviews of pregnant women, their partners, families and healthcare professionals. They were carried out every four weeks, from the last month of pregnancy to six months after birth, to find out what impact breastfeeding practice had on the whole family.
Many women reported that their own experiences of breastfeeding clashed with the idealism of the guidelines.
Some said they felt guilty about not finding breastfeeding to be a lovely bonding experience, while other lamented the fact that healthcare professionals make the process sound so easy, when often that is not the case.
The study, which is published in the journal BMJ Open, also revealed that some partners did not feel sufficiently prepared for the reality of breastfeeding, while many women and their partners said they wanted a greater focus on the emotional issues involved in breastfeeding, rather than merely the technicalities of the practice.
'Almost two decades ago, there was a debate around idealism in health promotion which questioned the transformation of health into political value,' the study authors wrote.
'We would argue that it is time to revisit this debate for infant feeding, if we are to design and deliver successful interventions to improve infant feeding outcomes and subsequent health outcomes of future generations.'
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