Impact of Parenting Stress and Husband's Support on Breastfeeding Adaptation among Breastfeeding Mothers

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study investigated the relationships among parenting stress, husband's support, and breastfeeding adaptation in mothers. METHODS: A correlational survey design was utilized in this study. Data were collected from 181 breastfeeding mothers with infants under 12 months of age. Participants were recruited from the outpatient clinic, a child photo studio, or from the kid's cafe from July 22 to September 13, 2016. Instruments for collecting data included Childcare Stress Inventory (CSI), Husband's Support scale, and the Breastfeeding Adaptation scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 by frequency, descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression. RESULTS: Of the 181 subjects, 54.7% responded they only breastfed with 75.7% who received breastfeeding education. Seventy-two percent of mothers made a decision to breastfeed by themselves. The mean score was 2.39±0.53 for parenting stress, 3.07±0.43 for husband's support, and 3.85±0.49 for breastfeeding adaptation. Factors influencing breastfeeding adaptation were identified as lower parenting stress (β=−.54), greater husband's support (β=.31), breastfeeding (β=.31), and older age of baby (β=.14), with 56.0% that explained variance. CONCLUSION: This study reports that parenting stress has negative effect on breastfeeding adaptation, while husband's support has positive effect. Results may be useful in developing new strategies for enhancing breastfeeding adaptation.