Ask a question from expert

Ask now

Nursing Assignment on Breastfeeding

7 Pages1712 Words1441 Views
   

Added on  2020-03-23

Nursing Assignment on Breastfeeding

   Added on 2020-03-23

BookmarkShareRelated Documents
Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENTNursing assignmentName of the student:Name of the University:Author’s note
Nursing Assignment on Breastfeeding_1
1NURSING ASSIGNMENTBreastfeeding is regarded as the most beneficial practice for maintaining optimal growthof infants and reducing childhood morbidity. Breastfeeding is the best approach to providing theideal 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 practicewithin the first hours of baby’s life (Exclusive breastfeeding, 2017).However, the issue is thatmany mothers fail to continue breastfeeding due to personal and societal barriers. The purpose ofthis essay is to find out the barriers to exclusive breast feeding practices and find out the bestapproach to promote breastfeeding among nursing 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 breastmilk to infants without mixing it with other supplements or liquids for the first six months. Thehealth benefit of breastfeeding is that it reduces the risk of otitis media, urinary tract infectionand gastrointestinal infection in infants and mothers are able to return back to their normalweight very easily. However, despite well-recognized benefit and importance of exclusivebreastfeeding, very few nursing mothers follow the practice globally. The analysis ofbreastfeeding practice in the world has revealed that only 45% of newborn are given breast milkwithin the first hours of work and the less than 50% women engage in exclusive breastfeedingfor the first six months (Infant and Young Child Feeding - UNICEF DATA, 2017).In the contextof Maldives, the rate of breastfeeding is better than global data. 64% of the newborn arebreastfed within the first hours. However, the main concern is that exclsive breast feeding belowsix months was only 48% (Maldives Health Profile 2016, 2017).Hence, very few infants aregetting the ideal nutrition that they require for growth and development.
Nursing Assignment on Breastfeeding_2
2NURSING ASSIGNMENTDue to the poor practice of breastfeeding among nursing mothers, it is necessary toidentify the barrier influencing continued breastfeeding. Firstly, duration of feeding is affectedby breast problems like sore nipple, insufficiency to produce milk, breast engorgement. This wasalso 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 preventcontinued breastfeeding practice among mothers. Many mothers are not able to do so because ofemployment and career commitment. They do not get maternity leave for a long period of timeand 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 theirinfants when they are at office (Mirkovic et al., 2014). Hence, flexible work scheduling is anecessary step to support mothers and achieve the goals of breastfeeding.Another study gave the insight that barrier to breastfeeding is seen because of wrongperception of mothers that their infants are hungry because of breast milk and other infantformula 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 barrieris the sexualization of breast and the perception among people that breast should not bedisplayed in public. Hence, many women are not able visualize the breast to provide nutrition totheir child in all places. Husbands also discourage their wife to breastfeed because of concernregarding 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 forbreastfeeding because of fear of unattractive breast, less freedom and inability to supply enough
Nursing Assignment on Breastfeeding_3

End of preview

Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.

Related Documents
Problems Associated with Breast Feeding in Maldives Report
|17
|3894
|125

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Exclusive Breastfeeding in Lactating Mothers of Infants Aged 0-6 Months in Addu City
|15
|5502
|444

Breastfeeding Policy in Australia
|18
|4562
|81

Assignment Name.
|3
|456
|114

Assignment on Breastfeeding PDF
|5
|692
|80

Evidence Into Practice
|11
|3186
|67