School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, Dublin City University, Collins Ave Ext, Whitehall, Dublin 9, Ireland.
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, Health Sciences Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Health Promot Int. 2024 Aug 1;39(4). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daae088.
Breastfeeding is the optimal form of nutrition for infants and young children. The World Health Organization recommends that babies are breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months of life, and up to the age of 2 years or beyond in combination with complementary food. Breastfeeding initiation and continuation rates are suboptimal globally and very low in the Republic of Ireland where health promotion initiatives and healthcare professional support predominantly focus on the important phase of initiation and early months of the breastfeeding journey. This qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore the experiences of women who chose to breastfeed their children beyond 1 year of age in the Republic of Ireland. Fourteen women participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was conducted. The analysis generated three overarching themes: (1) Influences on breastfeeding beyond 1 year, (2) Sustaining breastfeeding and (3) Benefits of breastfeeding beyond 1 year. Family, friends, peers, culture and commercial milk formula marketing had an influence on breastfeeding journeys. Support, determination, knowledge, bed-sharing and Covid-19 pandemic social restrictions helped to sustain breastfeeding beyond 1 year. Benefits of breastfeeding beyond 1 year such as nutrition, strengthening of emotional bonds, development of a parenting tool, and protection of child and maternal health were identified. Our findings support the need for discussions and further research on the normalization of breastfeeding beyond 1 year in the Republic of Ireland, targeted health promotion initiatives and education programmes for healthcare professionals on supporting the continuation of breastfeeding.
母乳喂养是婴儿和幼儿的最佳营养形式。世界卫生组织建议婴儿在生命的前 6 个月内纯母乳喂养，并在 2 岁或以上与补充食品结合喂养。全球母乳喂养开始率和持续率都不理想，在爱尔兰共和国，母乳喂养促进倡议和医疗保健专业人员的支持主要集中在母乳喂养开始和早期阶段，情况更是如此。本定性描述性研究旨在探讨选择在爱尔兰共和国为孩子母乳喂养 1 年以上的女性的经验。14 名女性参加了半结构化访谈。访谈逐字记录下来，并进行了主题分析。分析产生了三个总体主题：（1）1 岁以上母乳喂养的影响，（2）维持母乳喂养，（3）1 岁以上母乳喂养的好处。家庭、朋友、同龄人、文化和商业配方奶粉营销对母乳喂养的旅程有影响。支持、决心、知识、同床共枕和 COVID-19 大流行社会限制有助于 1 岁以上的母乳喂养持续进行。1 岁以上母乳喂养的好处，如营养、加强情感纽带、发展育儿工具以及保护儿童和母亲的健康，都得到了确认。我们的研究结果支持在爱尔兰共和国就 1 岁以上母乳喂养的正常化进行讨论和进一步研究的必要性，还需要针对医疗保健专业人员制定母乳喂养促进倡议和教育计划，以支持母乳喂养的持续进行。
