Factors affecting Nursing Mothers Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay (Essay Sample)

Factors affecting Nursing Mothers
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Factors affecting Nursing Mothers
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Breastfeeding is the ideal feeding for infants. Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is essential as it improves maternal and child health. EBF means only giving the baby breast milk and no other liquids and solids except vitamins, oral rehydration, minerals, or medicines to the infant in the first six months (Maharlouei & Pourhaghighi, 2018). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), optimal breastfeeding practices include initiation of breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth, EBF for the first 6 months of infant life, and the incorporation of weaning food after 6 months as breastfeeding continues up to 2 years (Maonga et al., 2016). Therefore, an understanding of the maternal, social, cultural, and environmental factors that affect breastfeeding modality is critical.
Worldwide, only 36% of infants were exclusively breastfed between 2007 and 2014. In the U.S., the percentage of infants breastfed at birth is 81%, with the rate dropping to 44% after 3 months (Cohen et al., 2018). The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have a target of having at least 50% of infants exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months by 2025. The Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding stresses the need to understand the social, cultural, and environmental factors affecting breastfeeding.