Experiences of Lactating Working Mothers: A Descriptive Study at a Private Tertiary Care Setting of Karachi, Pakistan

Hirani, Shela Akbar Ali

Tuesday, 1 November 2011: 10:00 AM

Shela Akbar Ali Hirani, MScN, BScN
School of Nursing, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
Rozina Karmaliani, RN, RM, BScN, MScN, MPH, PhD
Aga Khan University School of Nursing, Karachi, Pakistan

Learning Objective 1: realize the challenges of breastfeeding urban working mothers residing in Pakistan and working as full time employee

Learning Objective 2: gain insight about the facilitator and barriers of breastfeeding among breastfeeding urban working mothers in Pakistan

Introduction: Breastfeeding is a complete diet for the infant, as it contributes towards infants’ growth and development. Considering malnutrition related rising mortality and morbidity rates among young Pakistani children, efforts are in progress for breastfeeding promotion at community and health care settings; however, very little attention is paid at offering workplace support to the breastfeeding working mothers. In Pakistan, availability of lactation support for the working mothers is questionable at the workplaces. Review of literature confirmed that in Pakistan no such research has been conducted yet that can unveil the experiences of lactating working mothers.

Purpose: To describe experiences of lactating working mothers and to get insight about the facilitators and barriers of breastfeeding at their workplace; as well as to seek recommendations from these Pakistani mothers to improve their breastfeeding practices.

Methodology: While utilizing the qualitative descriptive design, nine full time lactating working mothers who met the inclusion criteria were selected via purposive sampling. After receiving Ethical Review Committee’s approval, study participants were recruited from various sub-units of a private tertiary care setting of Karachi, Pakistan. A semi-structure interview guide and a participant’s profile form were utilized to collect data from the participants. Researcher collected data till the saturation met.

Findings: Most of the study participants verbalized that it challenging to combine breastfeeding with employment; however, some mothers expressed their experiences as nice and mixed experiences. The study indicated that along with workplace support, mother’s attributes and her family support is equally essential to enable lactating working mothers to continue breastfeeding with employment. The study further revealed that inadequate workplace support leads towards adverse outcomes for the breastfeeding working mothers and their babies.

Conclusion: Study findings indicated that workplace, family and health care based interventions are essential to enable Pakistani urban working mothers to combine breastfeeding with employment.

See more of: Global Initiatives on Breastfeeding Practices
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