The purpose of this study was to measure post-weaning feelings i n women planning employment within one year post-partum and to examine the effects of factors related to duration and employment on these feelings. Subjects were recruited from obstetric clinics and prenatal classes throughout Indiana. Fifty-three women were interviewed prenatally and at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months post-partum (or until weaning occurred in those who breastfed less than 6 months). Those women who weaned their infants during the study period were asked to describe their reasons for cessation and to quantify their feelings of sadness/ depression, madness /anger, relief, and guilt using Likert-type scales. The majority of subjects were Caucasian, had attended college, and were 26 years of age or older. No significant relationship existed between duration of lactation and age or education. Thirty-one women had weaned their infants by 6 months, 20 due to mother-led reasons, 9 due to baby-led reasons, and 2 due to other reasons. The most common reasons given for weaning were "baby won't suck" (6) and "returning to work" (6). No significant differences (p>.05) in feelings were found between women who weaned due to mother-related and baby-related reasons or between women who met or did not meet their breastfeeding goals. Women who did not feed their babies as planned when returning to work felt significantly more sadness/depression (p=.03) and guilt (p=.004) compared to those who fed their infants as planned. The results of this study suggest breastfeeding is not only a physiological vehicle for infant nutrition, but also an emotional phenomena. Understanding a woman's emotional response to the weaning process will assist health care professionals in providing perinatal education and support to the breastfeeding woman. / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

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The current study examined the effects of kangaroo care on breastfeeding practices, infant stress reactivity, and biobehavioral measures of mother-infant bonding across the first 3 months postpartum. Additionally, the role of breastfeeding in infant cortical maturation in the frontal lobe was examined. Thirty two mother-infant dyads participated in the current study; 16 mother-infant dyads were randomly assigned to the kangaroo care group and 17 mother-infant dyads were assigned to the control group. Mothers in the kangaroo care group received training on proper kangaroo care procedures by a trained administrator during the first 1-2 weeks postpartum. Mothers in the kangaroo care group were asked to use the kangaroo care procedure for 1 hour per day for 6 weeks. Maternal perceptions of fetal attachment, mood, feeding intentions, and urinary oxytocin measurements were assessed prenatally. At a newborn visit, infant neurobehavioral functioning and urinary oxytocin measurements were assessed. Maternal mood and feeding practices were also assessed at the newborn visit. At 3 months postpartum, mother-infant dyads were assessed on urinary oxytocin measurements. Mother-infant dyads were recorded during a play session and feeding session. Infant baseline EEG recordings were taken over a 5 minute period. Infant cortisol measurements were collected from infant saliva before and after a mild behavioral stressor, an infant arm restraint procedure. Maternal perceptions of postpartum bonding, mood, infant temperament, and feeding practices were also assessed. Results indicate that kangaroo care produced medium to large effects on cortisol reactivity, dyadic bonding, and breastfeeding practices if kangaroo care was practiced for the recommended amount of time. Kangaroo care produced medium to large effects on oxytocin levels in motherinfant dyads regardless of use. Cortical measures of infant frontal activity indicated that all infants in the samples displayed functional maturity of the frontal lobe. Kangaroo care can be used a viable, low-cost tactile procedure that can be implemented after birth to aid in breastfeeding practices, mother-infant bonding, and lower infant stress reactivity. Infants in the study who received at least one breastfeeding session displayed advanced patterns of frontal activation. Further study is needed to determine if peripheral oxytocin measurements are 1) reliable and 2) are indicative of dyadic bonding behaviors. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Despite the burgeoning literature documenting the effects of breast-feeding on cognition and educational attainment over the past several decades, there remains important gaps in our knowledge regarding whether this relationship is dictated by sociodemographic factors. The current investigations, which examined the literature on the effects of breast-feeding on cognition and educational attainment in children, adolescents, and older adults addressed these gaps. Chapter 2 was an up-to-date global systematic review of population studies in individuals ≤ 25 years and ≥ 25 years of age. Results indicate that the majority of published studies conducted by researchers demonstrated a positive relationship between the effect of breast-feeding on cognitive outcomes and educational attainment. Additionally, findings highlighted the importance of possible confounders and how adjusting for them can change the relationship between breast-feeding and cognition and educational attainment. Chapter 3 investigated the breast-feeding-cognition/educational attainment relationship across race, as well as whether mother-child stimulation might mediate this relationship. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) was used to examine the effect of being breast-fed or not, and duration on cognitive outcomes and grade point average (GPA). Results indicate that individuals who were breast-fed had slightly higher GPAs and performance on both a vocabulary test and a number recall test compared to adolescents who were not breast-fed. There was an effect for race, but no interaction between race and breast-feeding. Mother-child stimulation had a limited effect on the relationship between breast-feeding and cognitive outcomes and GPA. Chapter 4 explored whether the effect observed in adolescence persists into older adulthood. The Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Cohort was used to examine this relationship in adults age ≥ 45 years. The covariates included sex of adolescent, race (Black or White), maternal education, paternal education, maternal smoking history, number of other children mother has, resident location (urban/not-urban), and a financial adversity index. This was a composite score consisting of yes or no responses to (1) do you have health insurance, (2) have you been employed within the past 12 months, (3) are you on public assistance, and (4) do you have enough money to pay your bills? Results show that self-report history of being breast-fed did not current predict performance on cognitive tests. Additionally, neither race nor sex moderated this relationship between breast-feeding and cognition. Overall, evidence from the review and two studies highlight the important of assessing the effect of breast-feeding on cognition and educational attainment in populations with varying confounding factors, however, while some of the results are inconsistent with our hypothesis, replication is clearly essential to further explore the possible underlying mechanism.

Introduction: The present study aims to understand how the absence of food security and breastfeeding in children at one year of age, which can be considered as adverse childhood experiences, may be associated with brain function as measured by the relative and absolute power spectral density of four frequency bands of brain waves (theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) among a sample of infants from low-socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds at age 12 months old. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was used by the parent study, Baby’s First Years (BFY), to collect quantitative data to understand the associations between breastfeeding, food insecurity, and brain function in a sample of 243 low-SES mothers and their infants at age 12 months old. Breastfeeding was measured as ever breastfed, to understand if a mother had ever initiated breastfeeding of their infant, and breastfeeding duration, measured in months. Household food insecurity (HFI) was measured using the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module Short Form devised by the USDA. Electroencephalography (EEG) data was collected to assess brain function. Data Analysis: Data was analyzed to determine associations between being ever breastfed, breastfeeding duration, and the presence of HFI and EEG measured relative and absolute theta, alpha, beta, and gamma power in infants at 12 months of age using multiple linear regression (MLR) models based on ordinary least squares (OLS). Results: 77% (n=187) of mothers reported breastfeeding their child at least one time. The mean breastfeeding duration (including the mothers that never breastfed) was 3.6 months (SD=4.12). 27.6% (n=67) of mothers were found to be food insecure. Ever breastfeeding an infant during the first year of life was found to be associated with higher absolute theta power (p<0.05), and higher relative and absolute alpha power (p<0.01). Breastfeeding duration was not found to be associated with relative and absolute theta, alpha, beta or gamma power. Finally, the presence of food insecurity was not found to be associated with relative and absolute theta, alpha, beta or gamma power. Discussion: Differences in brain function may be adaptive for children experiencing adversity because of their lower SES, amongst other factors (Ellis et al., 2020). Ever breastfeeding an infant was associated with higher absolute theta power, which was an unexpected finding. However, relative theta power was not associated with ever breastfeeding, and therefore this finding must cautiously be interpreted. Ever breastfeeding an infant was associated with higher relative and absolute alpha power. It is possible that the increases in relative and absolute alpha power within the sample of infants who were ever breastfed are in part due to the emotional connection that breastfeeding elicits and the characteristics of mothers that decide to initiate breastfeeding as compared to those that do not initiate breastfeeding. This research demonstrates significant associations between ever breastfeeding an infant with brain function in a population of infants from diverse, low SES backgrounds. In contextualizing these changes in brain function as plausible adaptations that infants are developing due to their experiences, an opportunity exists to further explore these associations with brain function to understand the skills that low SES infants are developing during the first year of life.

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Exclusive breastfeeding for at least 6 months provides numerous infant and maternal benefits. Yet mothers with risk factors, such as lower education, lower socioeconomic status, younger maternal age, planned cesarean birth, and anxiety and depression, are more likely to stop breastfeeding in the early postpartum period. Few studies have focused on perinatal depression as a risk factor for breastfeeding cessation. To tailor effective interventions, nurses must first understand the lived experience of breastfeeding for mothers at risk for perinatal depression. A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted to elucidate the experience of breastfeeding for mothers with perinatal depression. The study was grounded in Swanson’s middle-range theory of caring. After university Institutional Review Board approval, a purposive sample of 10 women was recruited from various organizations. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and semistructured, audiorecorded face-to-face or telephonic interviews were conducted. The researcher transcribed the data which was transformed into constituents of the mothers’ lived experience by utilizing Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method. Five constituents emerged: choosing selflessness, harboring inadequacy, deliberate persevering, discerning meaning, and cherishing intimacy. The constituents embodied the essence of the mothers’ thoughts and feelings connected to breastfeeding. By daily choosing selflessness, mothers consciously decided to breastfeed despite physical or psychological struggles. They often were harboring inadequacy due to ongoing struggles which led to incessant thoughts of maternal incompetence. Yet they successfully breastfed for at least 2 weeks after birth by deliberate persevering. Through breastfeeding, they were discerning meaning to realize their value as mothers. Finally, they reveled in purposeful moments of togetherness with their babies through cherishing intimacy. The study findings inform recommendations for nursing education, practice, research, and policy. Nursing education must include basic breastfeeding and perinatal mental health knowledge in prelicensure curricula and up-to-date lactation management techniques and perinatal mental health awareness training in continuing education. Practicing maternal-child nurses must provide education and support to mothers about advantages and difficulties of breastfeeding throughout the perinatal period. Future research includes determination of support needs for women with perinatal depression with subsequent development and evaluation of therapeutic actions to promote breastfeeding success. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection