Mothers’ Experiences of the Strategies Used to Gain Successful Exclusive Breastfeeding: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: Effective and appropriate interventions used by nursing mothers in exclusive breast feeding, in accordance with existing conditions, can have a great effect on the maintenance, continuity and promotion of breastfeeding. So, identifying these successful strategies is essential to make future breast feeding health plans for mothers and infants, and to ensure exclusive breastfeeding. Method: This was a qualitative study of conventional content analysis conducted in the year ۲۰۱۴. Participants included sixteen lactating mothers of kids up to one year old, and of successful experience in exclusive breastfeeding, who have refereed to health centers in Golestan and Mazandaran universities of medical sciences, Iran. Their experiences on the strategies used successfully in the first six months of exclusive breastfeeding were collected through unstructured and in-depth interviews. Sampling was purposive and was continued until reaching data saturation. The study data were analyzed using constant comparison analysis technique. Results: Eight main themes related to the nature and dimensions of mothers’ understanding of the strategies used to gain successful exclusive breastfeeding were extracted. These themes were as “comfortable and pleasant preparation before breastfeeding”, “information from reliable sources”, “lifestyle adjustment to breastfeeding”, “intelligent resiliency”, “resolutions for infant’s reluctance in breastfeeding”, “strengthening and ensuring the adequacy of milk and lactation”, “breast care during breastfeeding”, and “the use of religious instructions”. Conclusion: It is recommended to consider the role and eminence of mothers, and their successful strategies and guidelines related to successful exclusive breastfeeding seriously in codification of health care policies.

Keywords:

Breastfeeding , Exclusive breastfeeding , Empowerment , Mothers , Strategies , qualitative research