What is the role of medical practitioners and support groups in the decision-making process for whether to breastfeed or not (and its effects on the family unit)?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Clinicians are an important source of education and support for breastfeeding. When a mother is discharged from a maternity facility after childbirth, she may need continued breastfeeding support, not only from her family but also from professionals affiliated with the maternity facility. Professional post-discharge breastfeeding support of mothers can take many forms, including planned follow-up visits at the maternity facility, telephone follow-ups initiated by the maternity facility, referrals to community-based support groups and organizations, and home visits. For any kind of health service, adequate education and training are essential. Even so, a study of obstetricians’ attitudes, practices, and recom?mendations found that although 86% of clinicians reported having prenatal discussions about infant feeding, and 80% of them recommended breastfeeding, nearly 75% admitted they had either inadequate or no training in how to appropriately educate mothers about breastfeeding. The information on breastfeeding included in medical texts is often incom?plete, inconsistent, and inaccurate. In addition, although formative research has revealed that hospital management recognises the public health importance of breastfeeding and agrees that it is the optimal nutrition for most infants, management is largely unaware of the specific characteristics of supportive breastfeeding care. Despite recognising the demand for evidence-based health care, many hospital executives are unable to accurately identify which current routine maternity practices are evidence based.