Too Old to Be Breastfed? Examination of Pre-Healthcare Professionals’ Beliefs About, and Emotional and Behavioral Responses toward Extended Breastfeeding

ABSTRACT

While breastfeeding seems to be widely accepted in the United States, extended breastfeeding (defined as breastfeeding beyond 12 months of age) tends to be stigmatized. Healthcare professionals are assumed to play a significant role in supporting women who desire to practice extended breastfeeding; however, how healthcare professionals react to extended breastfeeding has not been well understood. This research surveyed 116 healthcare students, who majored in nursing and human medicine, and examined their perceived advantages and disadvantages, emotional responses to, and advice that they would provide to future mothers regarding extended breastfeeding. The results indicated that students responded predominantly with negative emotions and neutral responses to extended breastfeeding, with a small number of participants responding with positive emotions. Many participants believed that it would bring benefits to the child and that it would be burdensome to the mother. Participants displayed a variety of behavioral responses when asked about advice that they would provide to future mothers with whom they will interact in a clinical setting. Practical implications are discussed.

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank Ms. Elizabeth Bogdan-Lovis for her help with recruiting participants from the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors claim no conflict of interest.

Notes

1. After answering the open-ended questions, participants also responded to a series of close-ended questions to assess their knowledge, attitudes, stigma associated with extended breastfeeding and behavioral intention to encourage women to wean beyond 12 months of child’s age. These responses are reported in a companion paper, for the purpose of parsimony and clear organization of the present manuscript.