I am a student with Union Institute & University's Maternal Child Health:
Lactation Consulting program. I am doing research on breastfeeding
initiation and duration by active duty mothers. I am a veteran, spouse to
active-duty and LLL Leader in a heavily populated military community, hence
my interest in this topic.
There has not been much research done on this topic, and what has been done
focuses on prenatal/breastfeeding education and lactation help in the first
weeks. The statistics for breastfeeding initiation and duration in an
active duty population are low at best (and there is a dearth of statistics
in this area as well). In a 1993 Naval Reproductive Outcome Survey, 35% did
not breastfeed at all, 18% breastfed for less than a month, 10% breastfed
for 2-3 months, 21% breastfed for more that 3 months. A 1999 study by Dunne
and another by Bristow found initiation rates of 85% but the duration
quickly fell off once the active duty mother returned to work at 6 weeks. By
8 weeks only 21% of mothers were still breastfeeding. There is no DOD
policy on breastfeeding for active duty mothers, it is up to each individual
command to set up and implement breastfeeding policies. (Breastfeeding in
the Military Parts 1 & 2)
"Working mothers in the military may encounter issues similar to their
nonmilitary counterparts, they may also encounter issues unique to the
military". (Stevens) My question to the professionals here on Lact-Net, and
especially those of you who work with military mothers, is this: What do you
see and/or what do your active mothers say are the biggest barriers to
breastfeeding while on active duty? What are the greatest facilitators? How
can we in the profession help these mothers to have the breastfeeding
relationship they desire for themselves and their infants?
As a side note-if anyone is aware of more recent research on this topic, I
would appreciate it. A search of PubMed and DTIC (Defense Technical
Information Center) did not yield many studies. I am wondering if there are
military only studies that I cannot access due to my civilian status.
References:
Incidence and Duration of Breastfeeding in Active Duty Military Women;
Dunne, Carrie; 1998
Barriers and Facilitators of Breastfeeding for Primiparous Active Duty
military mothers: A Qualitative Study; Bristow, Kristine; 1999
Breastfeeding Experiences of Active Duty Military Women; Stevens, Kevin
(MAJ); Military Medicine, 168, 5:380, 2003
Breastfeeding in the Military: Parts 1 & 2; Bell, Michael (MAJ); Military
Medicine, 168, 10:807, 2003
Robyn Roche-Paull
Mom to 3, Student, LLL Leader
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