All kinds of goodies in the journals today!!!! Looks like Baby Friendly Hospitals will soon come under attack...or maybe I am just being paranoid??!! Breast-feeding difficulties experienced by women taking part in a qualitative interview study of postnatal depression Judy Shakespeare MA, BM BCh, MRCP, FRCGP (General Practitioner), , a, Fiona Blake MRCGP, MRCPsych (Consultant Psychiatrist)b and Jo Garcia BA, MSc (Research Fellow)c a Summertown Health Centre, 160 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7BS, UK b Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK c National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK Received 6 August 2003; Revised 1 October 2003 and 24 November 2003; accepted 22 December 2003. Available online 24 June 2004. Abstract Objective: to explore how women experience breast-feeding difficulties. This theme emerged unexpectedly during a study of women's experiences of screening with the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS) and subsequent care from primary health-care professionals. Design: qualitative in-depth interview study. Setting: postnatal women of 22 general practices within Oxford City Primary Care Group area. Participants: 39 postnatal women from a purposeful sample were interviewed at an average of 15 months postnatal. They were chosen from different general practices and with a range of emotional difficulties after birth, judged using EPDS results at eight weeks and eight months postnatal, and whether they received ‘listening visits’ from health visitors. Measurements and findings: a qualitative thematic analysis was used, including searches for anticipated and emergent themes. Fifteen women had breast-feeding difficulties. Five themes emerged which explore the difficulties. Firstly, commitment to breast feeding and high expectations of success; secondly, unexpected difficulties; thirdly, seeking professional support for difficulties; fourthly, finding a way to cope; and fifthly, guilt. Key conclusions: in this study breast-feeding difficulties were common, caused emotional distress and interactions with professionals could be difficult. Current breast-feeding policy, such as the ‘Baby Friendly Initiative’, may be a contributing factor. This needs to be explored in a further study. Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-1865-515552; fax: +44-1865-311237 Midwifery Volume 20, Issue 3 , September 2004, Pages 251-260 Ellen Penchuk, IBCLC, RLC... who should probably get SOME work done today, even if it is Friday. *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html