IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i15p9511-d878834.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Lived Experiences of Women without COVID-19 in Breastfeeding Their Infants during the Pandemic: A Descriptive Phenomenological Study

Author

Listed:
  • Ka-Huen Yip

    (Caritas Institute of Higher Education, School of Health Sciences, 2 Chui Ling Lane, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China)

  • Yuk-Chiu Yip

    (Caritas Institute of Higher Education, School of Health Sciences, 2 Chui Ling Lane, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China)

  • Wai-King Tsui

    (Caritas Institute of Higher Education, School of Health Sciences, 2 Chui Ling Lane, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China)

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in 2020 has led to several changes and disturbances in the daily lives of the general public. Particularly for new (first-time) mothers, there has been a significant impact on the practices of raising and feeding their babies. Social distancing measures everywhere have made mothers hesitant to breastfeed their babies anywhere else but at home. Combined with the fear of being infected with COVID-19, the present situation has created unprecedented barriers for breastfeeding mothers to accessing various types of support: emotional, instrumental, informational, and appraisal. There has been no research on the influence of the pandemic on social support regarding breastfeeding in Hong Kong. This study aimed to explore the social support and impact of COVID-19 on mothers breastfeeding their babies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 currently breastfeeding women in Hong Kong. Colaizzi’s seven-step method was used for data analysis. Two key themes emerged from the interview data: (1) positive influences on breastfeeding support during COVID-19 and (2) negative influences on breastfeeding support during COVID-19. Our findings may help mothers prepare to breastfeed their babies in places other than their homes.

Suggested Citation

  • Ka-Huen Yip & Yuk-Chiu Yip & Wai-King Tsui, 2022. "The Lived Experiences of Women without COVID-19 in Breastfeeding Their Infants during the Pandemic: A Descriptive Phenomenological Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9511-:d:878834
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9511/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9511/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9511-:d:878834. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.