Breastfeeding peer councillors' reflections on their support role in a northern town

• Main Author: Sherridan, Angela
• Published: Sheffield Hallam University 2009
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.741397

This research study seeks to explore the personal reflections of mothers who had chosen to support other mothers to breastfeed in a northern town where the local tradition was one of bottle feeding. These mothers had made this commitment because they felt they had not received adequate breastfeeding support with their own babies. The project was based upon the favorable evidence that demonstrated the positive benefits of local mothers providing one to one breastfeeding support for women from disadvantaged groups. A focus group consisting of seven breastfeeding peer counsellor mothers, using a semi structured interview schedule, enabled them to share their personal reflections on their experiences of becoming and being a breastfeeding peer counsellor. The data was analysed using principles of grounded theory and voice centered relational method (VCRM).This study identified how these peer counsellors felt that they had a crucial role in reversing negative attitudes towards breastfeeding and examined the challenges of supporting women to breastfeed, as well as bridging the gap between health professionals and their community and discusses the different approaches of how mothers are supported to breastfeed.