Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36924437›Full record

ArticleMaternal & child nutrition2023

Bereaved mothers' experience of expressing and donating breast milk: An interpretative phenomenological study.

Gráinne Ward, Pauline Adair, Nicola Doherty, David McCormack

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Maternal & child nutrition, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Meeting the emotional and behavioral health needs of bereaved NICU parents.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2025
    Review
  4. Understanding modifiable barriers to human milk donation in the United Kingdom.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Gráinne WardDepartment of Clinical Psychology, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-0224-9702
Pauline AdairDepartment of Clinical Psychology, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
Nicola DohertyDepartment of Clinical Psychology, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
David McCormackDepartment of Clinical Psychology, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Perinatal loss is a devastating event for any mother. What is often overlooked is a mothers continued ability to lactate following the death of her child. Donor breast milk is a commodity highly sought after given its value for feeding sick babies resident in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. This study aimed to explore the lived experience of mothers who have expressed and donated their breast milk following the loss of their infant. Seven bereaved mothers who donated milk to the Human Milk Bank in Northern Ireland were recruited. These women took part in semistructured interviews, which explored their experiences of perinatal loss and the role that expression/donation played for them in their grief. Their accounts were analysed using a qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method. After transcription and analysis, three superordinate themes emerged; (1) fulfilling the mother role; (2) the power of being able to 'Do'; (3) making good from the bad. The stories of these women reflect the independent and individual nature of grief. Each mother gained a great deal of comfort in having the ability to express milk. For some this created a physical connection to their child, for others, it created time alone to process what had happened and for all, it created a sense of autonomy and ownership in what was otherwise a very turbulent time in their lives.

Indexed as

Milk BanksMilk, HumanBreast FeedingFemaleHumansInfant, NewbornLactic AcidMothersPregnancyLactic Acidbreast milkmilk bankingneonatal mortalityparentpostpartumqualitative methods

Identifiers

PMID36924437
PMCPMC10262867

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.