Breastfeeding mother's experiences with breastfeeding counselling: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Mothers are recommended to breastfeed their children but can find it challenging and experience breastfeeding problems. Qualified breastfeeding counselling from healthcare professionals can help mothers master breastfeeding, but there is a need to explore mothers' lived experiences with receiving breastfeeding counselling. We aimed to reveal breastfeeding mothers' experiences with receiving breastfeeding counselling from midwives and public health nurses (PHNs) to provide a deeper insight into the phenomenon of breastfeeding counselling, which may improve breastfeeding counselling in practice. METHODS: A qualitative design with a hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used. Individual interviews of 11 breastfeeding mothers from Norway were conducted from September 2021 to 2022. Van Manen's guided existential inquiry guided the reflective process to provide deeper insights into the phenomenon of breastfeeding counselling. RESULTS: The study captured the meaning of breastfeeding mothers' lived experiences with breastfeeding counselling. Three themes and eight sub-themes were found. Breastfeeding was at stake for the mothers because breastfeeding could be reduced or stopped, and qualified breastfeeding counselling from midwives and PHNs was essential for them to establish and continue breastfeeding. They needed to be perceived as both breastfeeding mothers and as women with their own needs to master everyday life during the breastfeeding period. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers insights to midwives, PHNs and others offering breastfeeding counselling by facilitating an understanding of being a breastfeeding mother receiving breastfeeding counselling. Qualified breastfeeding counselling and a trusting relationship with midwives and PHNs are essential for mothers to establish and continue breastfeeding, while deficient counselling may cause breastfeeding difficulties. Mothers need to be treated as whole and competent persons to avoid objectification and fathers/partners need to be included in breastfeeding counselling. The 'Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative' should be continued, and guidelines should align with the mothers' need to incorporate breastfeeding into their daily lives during the breastfeeding period.

A balancing act-midwives' and public health nurses' experiences with breastfeeding counselling.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore midwives' and public-health nurses' experiences of breastfeeding counselling in order to provide a deeper insight into breastfeeding counselling. METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN AND JUSTIFICATION: A qualitative design was used, and qualitative content analysis was conducted to analyse the data in accordance with the phenomenological hermeneutic tradition. ETHICAL ISSUES AND APPROVAL: The Norwegian Centre for Research Data approved this study. All participants provided written consent. RESEARCH METHODS: Four focus-group interviews were conducted on a sample of eight midwives and 13 public-health nurses in Norway. RESULTS: Three interrelated themes describing the meaning of midwives' and public-health nurses' experiences with breastfeeding counselling emerged from the analysis: Breastfeeding Counselling Means Responsibility for Collaboration and Facilitation, Being Confident as a Breastfeeding Counsellor Means Striving for Professional Competence and Supporting the Individual Breastfeeding Family Means Being Sensitive and Adapting to Novel Situations. STUDY LIMITATIONS: The focus groups comprised a mix of midwives and public-health nurses, which may have inhibited honest declaration of these professionals' opinions of each other. CONCLUSION: Midwives and public-health nurses regard structural factors and prioritising breastfeeding support in society as important for providing good breastfeeding counselling. Midwives and public-health nurses strive to find a balance between relying on their own competence, promoting breastfeeding in accordance with guidelines and respecting mothers' choices. Healthcare professionals require knowledge about breastfeeding, good clinical judgement, a listening attitude and openness to how breastfeeding affects mother's everyday life to provide good breastfeeding care.