Megan Smith
Women experience many challenges in their journey as mothers and postpartum challenges during breastfeeding are quite common. Breastfeeding has many benefits for babies and mothers; including transfer of antibodies, decreased risk of obesity and diabetes, overall health of baby, decreased postpartum hemorrhage in mothers and increased bonding with baby. The CDC and WHO recommend exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, however, only 26% of babies are breastfed at 6 months. There are many barriers a woman might face during her breastfeeding journey and some of the most prevalent challenges are low milk supply, engorgement, and mastitis. With proper education and support both prenatally and postnatally a woman can overcome these challenges, thus increasing the longevity of breastfeeding greatly.
Hi Megan,
I really enjoyed your presentation, breastfeeding is something I feel like isn’t talked about enough. Personally, I was extremely overwhelmed at the thought of breastfeeding. I was 20 when I had my son and had experienced several of the barriers you mentioned, my son never latched properly and around day 2, I had engorgement issues and was forced to pump, due to the pain. He never successfully latched and I pumped for a month (which was extremely painful), and then switched to formula. I had a lactation consultant work with me before I left the hospital, but when the issues persisted back at home, was very overwhelmed, and somewhat embarrassed that I was having issues and didn’t seek help. I really enjoyed your presentation and how you presented issues women have with breastfeeding while going in-depth, in a way that was easy to understand. I wish I would have had access to your presentation when I was going through my struggles almost 8 years ago, I would have tried to keep at it! I think that presentations like yours should be something they have all mothers watch while in the hospital. You get so many pamphlets and papers that just get grazed over, but having someone explain it like you did was extremely beneficial. I can tell already, that you will be a great nurse!
Thank you for your kind words, Ali!
You are so right! There are so many women who feel defeated and stop breast feeding early. Sorry you had to go through the struggle and pain! I too, had issues with breast feeding my first born due to a severe tongue/buccal ties. Education and support makes a huge difference! Thank you for your comments and for taking time to watch my presentation.
This had such a great amount of information in it and all of it I feel was not overwhelming nor confusing at any point. You did a great job presenting information that people normally would have to scour all over the internet for but instead, can just make one stop. There is so much information in here to really help ensure the safety of both baby and mommy.
Thank you for you watching and for your comments, Christiana. I hope to reach and support many women throughout my nursing career.
I really enjoyed this presentation and it was greatly informative. I figured that breastfeeding had many benefits as explained, but it was eye-opening because I did not know that a process that seemed so natural could have so many challenges too.