Breastfeeding has short- and long-term health benefits for women and infants however poor breastfeeding trends show that breastfeeding support needs to be scaled up (Victoria et. al. 2016). Some women who want to breastfeed can experience unexpected and overwhelming feelings of aversion while breastfeeding and limited literature is available about this experience (Morns et. al. 2021). As a result, women who experience feelings of aversion while breastfeeding may not receive adequate support to achieve their personal breastfeeding goals (Morns et. al 2021).
In this presentation, Melissa Morns shares the findings from the first review of this phenomenon using meta-ethnographic qualitative synthesis. This study identified five main themes; an overarching category of “it’s such a strong feeling of get away from me” and four key themes translated from this category: “I do it because I feel it is best for my baby”, “I can’t control those feelings”, “I should be able to breastfeed my son and enjoy it”, and “I’m glad I did it” (Morns et. al. 2021).
This research found that this experience may negatively affect women’s self-esteem and maternal identity (Morns et. al. 2021). Women need ongoing free access to breastfeeding support when experiencing complex breastfeeding difficulties (Burns et. al. 2020).