Abstract
Purpose
To identify the process by which mothers who have given birth to a premature baby acquire a maternal role through the experience of breastfeeding, and to consider directions for breastfeeding support that facilitates the development of a relationship between the mother and premature baby and the mothers' role achievement.
Methods
The research design was a qualitative descriptive study. Seven mothers who had given birth to a premature baby at 23-28 weeks gestation and were currently breastfeeding participated in semi-structured interviews focused on their experiences and thoughts regarding breastfeeding. Data were analyzed using a qualitative inductive approach.
Results
In the 'complex psychological situation of experiencing loss through premature birth', and while dealing with 'delays in recovering strength after the birth due to prolonged enforced rest during pregnancy', mothers received 'support from midwives to start breastfeeding' from immediately after the birth, and started expressing milk with 'the conviction to breastfeed precisely because the baby was premature'. In the process of expressing until it became possible to breastfeed directly, participants repeated 'continuing expressing they could do for their baby' and 'seeking a role by expressing' with 'the existence of support from family and nurses as they kept on expressing'. When mothers could start breastfeeding directly, they were conscious of 'a dramatic surge of sense of really being a mother through breastfeeding'. In this process, 'revision of the image of childcare that had been interrupted through premature birth' occurred recurrently. Before the baby's discharge from hospital, mothers felt 'heightened love for the baby with a sense of reality'. While they achieved 'enhanced self-efficacy as the mother' through breastfeeding, they also experienced 'anxiety about the future as they could imagine caring for their baby extensively'.
Conclusion
The present findings demonstrate the importance of nursing that supports mothers' motivation to breastfeed and emphasizes the meaningfulness of breastfeeding in maternal role achievement through the experience of breastfeeding among mothers who have given birth to a premature baby.
