IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jocnur/v29y2020i13-14p2420-2428.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

You can't flight, you need to fight—A qualitative study of mothers' experiences of feeding extremely preterm infants

Author

Listed:
  • Evalotte Mӧrelius
  • Kajsa Kling
  • Eva Haraldsson
  • Siw Alehagen

Abstract

Aim To describe mother's experiences of feeding their extremely preterm infant. Background When an infant is born extremely preterm, there is a long rocky road for the mother if she wants to breastfeed. Some manage to reach their goals, others do not. Studies of feeding extremely preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are scarce. Design A qualitative method with an inductive approach. Methods Nine mothers giving birth to extremely preterm infants were interviewed by telephone after discharge from the NICU. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed with qualitative content analysis. The COREQ checklist was followed. Results The overall theme was “you can't flight, you need to fight.” The theme reflects the mothers’ will to do the best for their infants even if the struggle with milk expression and breastfeeding practice evoked feelings of helplessness, exposure, worry and disappointment. The categories forming the theme were as follows: The wish to provide own breastmilk; For the infant's best; Loss of control; and Help to reach the goals. Conclusion The mothers had a strong will to provide breastmilk to their infants but requested more support in order to be successful. Relevance to clinical practice There is a need for evidence‐based support programmes for mothers of extremely preterm infants to encourage them to persevere with milk expression and breastfeeding over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Evalotte Mӧrelius & Kajsa Kling & Eva Haraldsson & Siw Alehagen, 2020. "You can't flight, you need to fight—A qualitative study of mothers' experiences of feeding extremely preterm infants," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(13-14), pages 2420-2428, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:29:y:2020:i:13-14:p:2420-2428
    DOI: 10.1111/jocn.15254
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15254
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jocn.15254?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Flacking, Renée & Ewald, Uwe & Nyqvist, Kerstin Hedberg & Starrin, Bengt, 2006. "Trustful bonds: A key to "becoming a mother" and to reciprocal breastfeeding. Stories of mothers of very preterm infants at a neonatal unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 70-80, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Flacking, Renée & Ewald, Uwe & Starrin, Bengt, 2007. ""I wanted to do a good job": Experiences of 'becoming a mother' and breastfeeding in mothers of very preterm infants after discharge from a neonatal unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 2405-2416, June.
    2. Jacqueline Elizabeth van Wijlen, 2019. "Breastfeeding woman or lactating object? A critical philosophical discussion on the influence of Cartesian dualism on breastfeeding in the neonatal intensive care unit," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5-6), pages 1022-1031, March.
    3. Janne Weis & Vibeke Zoffmann & Ingrid Egerod, 2014. "Improved nurse–parent communication in neonatal intensive care unit: evaluation and adjustment of an implementation strategy," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(23-24), pages 3478-3489, December.
    4. Dam, Mie S. & Juhl, Sandra M. & Sangild, Per T. & Svendsen,, Mette N., 2017. "Feeding premature neonates: Kinship and species in translational neonatology," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 129-136.
    5. Palmquist, Aunchalee E.L. & Holdren, Sarah M. & Fair, Cynthia D., 2020. "“It was all taken away”: Lactation, embodiment, and resistance among mothers caring for their very-low-birth-weight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    6. Neely, Eva, 2023. "Theorising mother-baby-assemblages: The vital emergence of maternal health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:jocnur:v:29:y:2020:i:13-14:p:2420-2428. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2702 .

    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.