Concerns of mothers seeking breastfeeding support during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the experiences of Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) volunteers who assisted them, were explored via an online survey. Surveys were completed 16th March to 18th of May 2020 and described the COVID-19 related concerns of 340 individuals. One hundred and thirty six mothers (64%) sought support to protect their infants by continuing breastfeeding, increasing milk supply, or restarting breastfeeding. Mothers were commonly stressed, isolated and needing reassurance. Thirty four (10%) raised concerns about COVID-19 and breastfeeding safety. One hundred and twenty nine (61%) informed volunteers they were unable to access face-to-face health services because of fear or unavailability. Most common breastfeeding concerns were related to insufficient milk or weight gain, painful breasts, relactation, and reducing supplemental milk. Volunteers reported mothers were worried stress had reduced milk supply, that milk supply concerns were exacerbated by the inability to weigh infants, and that seeking medical treatment was being delayed. ABA volunteers stated they felt supported and confident assisting mothers while also expressing distress at mothers situation. ABAs role in emergency response should be recognised and national planning for infant and young child feeding in emergencies, must be urgently developed, funded, and implemented.
Background Breast hypoplasia is one reason for insufficient milk supply. Case reports use wide intra-mammary width and certain breast appearances as markers of breast hypoplasia. However, the reliability of these variables has not been determined. Research aims To test the (i) interrater and intrarater reliability of intra-mammary width measurement and interrater reliability of categorizing women’s breasts into breast types, and (ii) feasibility and acceptability of study procedures for the participants. Methods This was a prospective, longitudinal, non-experimental design with survey and observational components of a convenience sample of early postpartum women ( N = 31). Interrater and intrarater reliability were measured using intraclass correlation coefficient for agreement for intra-mammary width measurements. Interrater reliability was measured using weighted kappa for agreement for categorizing breast type. Feasibility and acceptability of study procedures were collected 1 month later. Results Excellent intrarater and interrater reliability for the intra-mammary width measurement (ICC = 0.99, 95% CI [0.99, 0.997] and ICC = 0.88, 95% CI [0.74, 0.94], respectively) and fair interrater reliability for breast type categorization (k = 0.35, 95% CI [−0.05, 0.75]) with high level of agreement between raters (97%) were achieved. Proportions of participants agreeing to breast photography and acceptability of study procedures were 68% (21/31) and 100% (28/28) respectively. Conclusion The excellent reliability for the intra-mammary width measurement means it provides a useful measure for future research. Since the “fair” reliability of categorizing breast type was due to lack of breast shape range in our sample, future research could assess the breasts of women with different medical profiles.
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