Bottle-Feeding Moms Ignored
Many feel pressured to breast-feed and are ill-informed about alternatives, researchers find.
TUESDAY, July 14 (HealthDay News) -- The lack of information and support for mothers who bottle-feed could put the health of their infants at risk, say British researchers who reviewed 23 studies that included more than 13,000 participants.
Most infants will receive some formula milk during their first year of life, even if their mothers have decided to breast-feed, said Dr. Rajalakshmi Lakshman and colleagues, from the University of Cambridge. Variations in bottle-feeding can have long-term health consequences for children, they noted.
Their review of published studies identified several common themes:
- Some mothers who bottle-fed -- either because they couldn't breast-feed or because they prefer to bottle-feed -- experienced negative emotions such as guilt, worry about the impact on their baby, concern about health professionals' opinions, uncertainty about how to proceed, a sense of failure and anger at feeling pressure to breast-feed.
- Some mothers said they didn't receive enough information on correct bottle-feeding techniques, which made it difficult to make decisions about whether they should bottle-feed and left them unsure about proper feeding frequencies and quantities.
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