ArticleMaternal & child nutrition2017
Differences in the emotional and practical experiences of exclusively breastfeeding and combination feeding mothers.
Article in Maternal & child nutrition, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Why do mothers mix milk feed their infants? Results from a systematic review.Nutrition reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Why do mothers mix milk feed their infants? Results from a systematic review.Nutrition reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Why do mothers mix milk feed their infants? Results from a systematic review.Nutrition reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Guilt, shame, and postpartum infant feeding outcomes: A systematic review.Maternal & child nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- The impact of the UK Baby Friendly Initiative on maternal and infant health outcomes: A mixed-methods systematic review.Maternal & child nutrition · 2019Pooled it
- Defining and measuring maternal intentions and practices regarding infant feeding: a scoping review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Mixed Milk Feeding Patterns and Growth Outcomes During the First Year of Life in Asian Infants: Application of Predefined Feeding Clusters to Test Associations.Current developments in nutrition · 2025Article
- Infant Feeding Challenges in the First Six Months: Influencing Factors, Consequences, and Strategies for Maternal Support.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Psychosocial predictors of post-natal anxiety and depression: Using Structural Equation Modelling to investigate the relationship between pressure to breastfeed, health care professional support, post-natal guilt and shame, and post-natal anxiety and depression within an infant feeding context.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Article
- Is there room for mothers' agency in the choice to breastfeed? A qualitative analysis of mothers' views on messages promoting breastfeeding in Quebec.European journal of midwifery · 2024Article
- Co-Design of a Reusable Learning Object (RLO) to Address Caregiver Responsive Infant Feeding Behaviours (CRIB) to Prevent Childhood Obesity: A Mixed-Method Protocol.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Exploring the reasons why mothers do not breastfeed, to inform and enable better support.Frontiers in global women's health · 2023Article
- A repeated cross-sectional analysis of breastfeeding initiation rates in Ireland for two decades and 10 recommended priorities for improvement.Maternal & child nutrition · 2023Review
- Exclusive Breastfeeding Duration and Perceptions of Infant Sleep: The Mediating Role of Postpartum Anxiety.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Unseen, unheard: a qualitative analysis of women's experiences of exclusively expressing breast milk.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
- Self-conscious emotions and breastfeeding support: A focused synthesis of UK qualitative research.Maternal & child nutrition · 2022Review
- The sleeper effect of perceived insufficient milk supply in US mothers.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
- Professional and non-professional sources of formula feeding advice for parents in the first six months.Maternal & child nutrition · 2020Article
- "They Just Need to Come Down a Little Bit to your Level": A Qualitative Study of Parents' Views and Experiences of Early Life Interventions to Promote Healthy Growth and Associated Behaviours.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Breastfeeding as a balancing act - pregnant Swedish women's voices on breastfeeding.International breastfeeding journal · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The majority of research examining the barriers to breastfeeding focuses on the physical challenges faced by mothers rather than the risks of encountering negative emotional and practical feeding experiences. We aimed to quantify the emotional and practical experiences of the overall sample of breastfeeding mothers and identify the differences in the emotional and practical experiences of exclusively breastfeeding mothers and combination feeding mothers, by feeding type and intention. Eight hundred forty-five mothers with infants up to 26 weeks of age and who had initiated breastfeeding were recruited through relevant social media via advertisements providing a link to an online survey. Predictors of emotional experiences included guilt, stigma, satisfaction with feeding method, and the need to defend themselves due to infant feeding choices. Practical predictors included perceived support from health professionals, main sources of infant feeding information, and respect from their everyday environment, workplace, and when breastfeeding in public. Current feeding type and prenatal feeding intention. In the overall sample, 15% of the mothers reported feeling guilty, 38% stigmatized, and 55% felt the need to defend their feeding choice. Binary logit models revealed that guilt and dissatisfaction were directly associated with feeding type, being higher when supplementing with formula. No associations with feeding intention were identified. This study demonstrates a link between current breastfeeding promotion strategies and the emotional state of breastfeeding mothers who supplement with formula to any extent. To minimize the negative impact on maternal well-being, it is important that future recommendations recognize the challenges that exclusive breastfeeding brings and provide a more balanced and realistic target for mothers.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.