Estudio de la construcción que hacen las madres del soporte necesario para la instauración y mantenimiento de la lactancia materna

Abstract

Historically and to this day, breastfeeding has been a topic of great interest in many disciplines, among them in the field of nursing. In humans, as mammals that they are, breastfeeding is part of their reproductive cycle. However, unlike the latter, in women breastfeeding is not exclusively and merely a biological act. Differing from other animals, for a human being breastfeeding is a social construct that depends on learning, beliefs, values, norms and sociocultural variables that change in time as well as the individuals that live through them. For this reason, it is necessary to include in the breastfeeding research the perspective of the involved subjects, the mothers. The health research presented in this thesis has been completed as a transformative Mix- Method study with a quantitative-qualitative sequential structure. The results obtained from this research establish that the decision women make in regards to feeding their newborn is conditioned by the benefits they attribute to breastfeeding and to formula; the stigmatization of breastfeeding in public, and pressure from health professionals, society and women as a whole, influenced by the social and cultural norms in the moment. Complying with the research methodology, at the end of the study there is a scheduled proposal to change or improve the aspects developed as a result of the research. Besides the health professionals responsible for the well being during pregnancy, the proposal also involves the management team of the Xerencia de Xestión Integrada de Ferrol (XXIF).