Background: Exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months offers protection from postnatal HIV infection but remains low in resource-poor settings. Documentation of experiences with exclusive breastfeeding is needed to strengthen infant feeding counselling by health care workers.
Objective: To explore HIV-positive mothers' experiences with exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months of the infant's life.
Design: A health facility- and community-based exploratory qualitative study was conducted among 30 HIV-positive mothers practising exclusive breastfeeding and meeting the selection criteria. In-depth interviews were conducted four times with the same participants at 6 days, 6 weeks, 12 weeks and 18 weeks after giving birth. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and files were imported into QRS NVivo Version 10 for coding, and data were analysed using the framework analysis.
Results: We found that mothers were aware of the risks of mother-to-child transmission of HIV through breastmilk and recognised the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding to their exposed babies. However, they were particularly concerned about achieving HIV-free survival for their exposed infants because of problems faced during the first 6 months of infant feeding. Although they reported being supported by their families and/or friends, their poor health and nutrition impacted how well they cared for their infants' well-being.
Conclusions: We conclude that exclusive breastfeeding was difficult to achieve because of individual circumstances. Therefore, prevention of mother-to-child transmission interventions that adopt a once-off infant feeding counselling do not achieve adequate preparation on the part of mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding. There is a need to provide frontline health care workers with steps for consideration during infant feeding counselling.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5136125 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v9.32362 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Maternal and Infant Characteristics and Pumping Profiles of Women That Predominantly Pump Milk for Their Infants.
Nutrients
January 2025
School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
Background: Whilst it is inconvenient and time-intensive, predominantly (PP) and exclusively pumping (EP) mothers rely on breast expression to provide milk for their infants and to ensure continued milk supply, yet these populations are poorly understood.
Methods: We assessed and characterised Western Australian PP mothers ( = 93) regarding 24 h milk production (MP) and infant milk intake and demographics, perinatal complications and breastfeeding difficulties, the frequencies of which were compared with published general population frequencies. Pumping efficacy and milk flow parameters during a pumping session in PP mothers ( = 32) were compared with those that pump occasionally (reference group, = 60).
A Pilot Study Exploring the Relationship Between Milk Composition and Microbial Capacity in Breastfed Infants.
Nutrients
January 2025
Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, CA 91330, USA.
Background: Maternal obesity may contribute to childhood obesity in a myriad of ways, including through alterations of the infant gut microbiome. For example, maternal obesity may contribute both directly by introducing a dysbiotic microbiome to the infant and indirectly through the altered composition of human milk that fuels the infant gut microbiome. In particular, indigestible human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are known to shape the composition of the infant gut microbiome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExamining Sociocultural Influences on Breastfeeding Attitudes Among Syrian and Hungarian Female Students.
Nutrients
January 2025
Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary.
Background: Breastfeeding in Syria is a common practice supported by social norms, family traditions, and cultural values. In Hungary, recent statistics show that exclusive breastfeeding is significantly lower than the recommendation of the World Health Organization. Understanding the perspectives of educated young ladies is crucial for discovering the difficulties of breastfeeding practices within Syrian-Hungarian societies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFecal Microbiome and Metabolomic Profiles of Mixed-Fed Infants Are More Similar to Formula-Fed than Breastfed Infants.
Microorganisms
January 2025
Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Many infants consume both human milk and infant formula (mixed-fed); however, few studies have investigated how mixed feeding affects the gut microbiome composition and metabolic profiles compared to exclusive breastfeeding or formula feeding. Herein, how delivery mode and early nutrition affect the microbiome and metabolome of 6-week-old infants in the STRONG Kids2 cohort was investigated. Fecal samples were collected from exclusively breastfed (BF; n = 25), formula-fed (FF; n = 25) or mixed-fed (MF; n = 25) participants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFeeding Expressed Breast Milk Alters the Microbial Network of Breast Milk and Increases Breast Milk Microbiome Diversity over Time.
Microorganisms
December 2024
Department of Biochemistry & Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
Breastfeeding supplies nutrition, immunity, and hormonal cues to infants. Feeding expressed breast milk may result in de-phased milk production and feeding times, which distort the real-time circadian cues carried by breast milk. We hypothesized that providing expressed breast milk alters the microbiotas of both breast milk and the infant's gut.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!