Contradictions and conflict: A meta-ethnographic study of migrant women’s experiences of breastfeeding in a new country

Abstract

BackgroundStudies report mixed findings about rates of both exclusive and partial breastfeeding amongst women who are migrants or refugees in high income countries. It is important to understand the beliefs and experiences that impact on migrant and refugee women’s infant feeding decisions in order to appropriately support women to breastfeed in a new country. The aim of this paper is to report the findings of a meta-ethnographic study that explored migrant and refugee women’s experiences and practices related to breastfeeding in a new country.MethodsCINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, SCOPUS and the Cochrane Library with Full Text databases were searched for the period January 2000 to May 2012. Out of 2355 papers retrieved 11 met the inclusion criteria. A meta-ethnographic synthesis was undertaken using the analytic strategies and theme synthesis techniques of reciprocal translation and refutational investigation. Quality appraisal was undertaken using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool.ResultsEight qualitative studies and three studies reporting both qualitative and quantitative data were included and one overarching theme emerged: ‘Breastfeeding in a new country: facing contradictions and conflict’. This theme comprised four sub-themes ‘Mother’s milk is best’; ‘Contradictions and conflict in breastfeeding practices’; ‘Producing breast milk requires energy and good health’; and ‘The dominant role of female relatives’. Migrant women who valued, but did not have access to, traditional postpartum practices, were more likely to cease breastfeeding. Women reported a clash between their individual beliefs and practices and the dominant practices in the new country, and also a tension with family members either in the country of origin or in the new country.ConclusionMigrant women experience tensions in their breastfeeding experience and require support from professionals who can sensitively address their individual needs. Strategies to engage grandmothers in educational opportunities may offer a novel approach to breastfeeding support.

Childbearing traditions of Indian women at home and abroad: An integrative literature review

“…Nevertheless, there were three relevant literature reviews from Australia, one on postnatal depression and cultural perspectives, 27 one on the importance of cultural safety for Australian midwifery practice 6 and a meta-ethnographic study of migrant women's experiences of breastfeeding in Australia. 34 …”

“…A UK study 27 examined the effect of caseload midwifery practices on a culturally diverse group and one Australian study 4 compared the obstetric intervention rates and birth outcomes between Australian and overseas born. Also included in the review were ten literature reviews 6,7,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] (Table 3), one book chapter, 22 and three scholarly, but non-research articles; a clinical paper on the Migrant Health Guide in UK, 35 a report from the Lancet 36 and To explore the links between multiple deprivations and use of maternal services 21 Singh an opinion piece in Australian Midwifery News by an Indian midwife. 37 No research article was found specifically exploring Indian women's childbearing experiences in Australia.…”

‘Life does not make it easy to breast-feed’: using the socio-ecological framework to determine social breast-feeding obstacles in a low-income population in Tijuana, Mexico

“…Breast-feeding in public is one of the obstacles noted in the present and other studies conducted in Mexico (9,48,49) , in the Hispanic population in the USA (50) , in migrant populations (40) and in other populations (51) . In the present study it was ranked as the third main obstacle to breastfeed (D Bueno-Gutierrez and C Chantry, unpublished results).…”

“…In southern and rural areas, where traditional practices are the norm, there are higher breast-feeding rates than in the northern, more urban, modern environments. There are other studies indicating that breast-feeding rates are decreasing in women migrating from traditional, rural areas to modern, urban societies with higher income (40)(41)(42) . Modernization implies acculturation or adoption of the values, beliefs and behaviours of the mainstream society (43) .…”

“…Messages emphasizing traditional Mexican along with modern healthy practices may allow normalizing breast-feeding in this population. Choudhry and Wallace (as cited in Schmied et al (40) ) 'suggest that if migrant women had the opportunity to observe peers from the dominant culture engaging in breast-feeding, it may help redress the misconceptions that modern women do not breast-feed'.…”