International Breastfeeding Journal最新文献

Background: As a pluricultural country, Mexico must promote breastfeeding through intercultural approaches. Although existing research remains limited, the exclusion and precarious living conditions experienced by many Indigenous communities render such efforts both challenging and essential for reducing inequalities in breastfeeding support. Moreover, while low breastfeeding rates at both global and local levels have been extensively documented through quantitative studies, the lived experiences of Indigenous mothers remain highly variable and underexplored. To date, qualitative research centered on Indigenous breastfeeding mothers' perspectives is scarce. This paper presents a case study of breastfeeding practices within a Tzeltal Indigenous community, examining the embodied, co-participatory, and situated dimensions of maternal care.

Methods: Using qualitative methods and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis within the 'Operational Research Group and Participatory Inquiry´ framework. A total of 19 Tzeltal-speaking mothers who were breastfeeding their children participated in the study, conducted on November 12, 2024, in the Tzeltal community of San Juan Cancuc, Chiapas. Data were collected through group sessions documented with field notes and audio recordings. The material was analyzed using conventional content analysis with emergent coding, grounding interpretations in participants' lived, embodied, affective, communal, and contextual breastfeeding experiences, allowing categories to be inductively generated from participants' narratives.

Results: The findings highlight that breastfeeding practices within a Tzeltal Indigenous community are not merely an individual act but a deeply relational, embodied and communitarian experience shaped by sociocultural, cosmogonic and spatial-contextual factors.

Conclusions: This qualitative study, grounded in an intercultural perspective and centered on Indigenous mothers' breastfeeding experiences, advocates for a more nuanced, interculturally oriented approach to breastfeeding promotion, protection, and support -one that recognizes the affective, embodied, and collective dimensions of maternal care. By attending to local beliefs, cosmogonies, and shared practices surrounding traditional breastfeeding, the study offers crucial insights that contribute to advancing reproductive justice for women, infants, and their communities, while underscoring the importance of intercultural strategies in the design and implementation of breastfeeding policies in a pluricultural country such as Mexico.

Background: Step three of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding encourages midwives in antenatal care to discuss the importance and management of breastfeeding with expectant and new parents. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding mothers' experiences of individual antenatal breastfeeding education. This study aims to explain and understand the meaning of the research phenomenon: support from midwives and partners during a structured breastfeeding support programme in antenatal care. The lived experiences of this phenomenon are interpreted from the perspectives of expectant mothers (during pregnancy) and new mothers (two months postpartum).

Methods: The analysis employed a lifeworld hermeneutic approach, based on diaries and interviews with 20 mothers conducted during pregnancy and two months after birth. Participants received structured breastfeeding support based on the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. A purposive sample was recruited in 2021 in Sweden.

Results: The research phenomenon, support from midwives and partners during a structured breastfeeding support programme in antenatal care, is understood through the following themes: Feeling safe through responsive, individualised dialogue; Grounding confidence through tailored and accessible breastfeeding knowledge; Breastfeeding as an existential anchor for emotional closeness and maternal identity; Co‑creating space for breastfeeding, with partner support as negotiated meaning; Weighing breastfeeding as a lived balance of perceived gains and everyday constraints; Trust as a foundation for perseverance and acceptance; and Feeling left behind when dialogue and continuity are missing. The main interpretation can be understood as being prepared to make independent decisions about breastfeeding.

Conclusions: Being prepared to make independent decisions about breastfeeding extends beyond receiving information and is shaped through responsive, meaningful encounters. Individual dialogue grounded in each mother's lived experiences, needs, and circumstances fostered a sense of safety, reflection, and growing confidence throughout pregnancy and early motherhood. Mothers valued support that recognised their perspectives and strengthened their ownership of breastfeeding decisions, while negotiated partner involvement deepened shared understanding without compromising maternal autonomy. The findings highlight that continuity‑based, individual antenatal breastfeeding education can complement group sessions, enhance maternal satisfaction, and enable midwives to provide more equitable and accessible care for all families.

Trial registration: ACTRN12623000648628. Date registered 15th June 2023. Retrospectively registered.

Background: The assembly of the oral microbiota during the first year of life is a critical process that may influence long-term health and immunological development. While the gut microbiome has been extensively studied, early oral colonization patterns remain less understood. This study aimed to characterize the oral microbial succession in infants and to evaluate the impact of two primary clinical factors-delivery mode and breastfeeding practices-on microbial composition from birth through the first 12 months of life.

Methods: Forty-eight newborns were prospectively recruited between January and June 2022 through the Basque Health Service (Osakidetza, Spain). Oral samples were collected at five time points (4-10 days, 1 month, 4 months, 6 months, and 12 months). Feeding status was categorized as exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) or mixed feeding (MF) for the first 4 months, after which the EBF group transitioned to a "Breast milk -No Formula" (BM-NF) group to account for the complementary feeding. Microbial communities were assessed via 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. To compare alpha diversity (Shannon, Chao1, ACE, Simpson, Observed, and Fisher indices) between groups, Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis tests were employed. Beta diversity was evaluated via non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) based on Bray-Curtis distances. PERMANOVA was employed to assess community shifts over time, and relative abundance differences across delivery and lactation type´s groups were analyzed using Mann-Whitney tests.

Results: Oral bacterial diversity increased significantly over time as the oral cavity transitioned towards a more complex community. Streptococcus, Ralstonia, Gemella, and Rothia were the primary early colonizers. Significant taxonomic shifts were associated with birth and feeding modes. C-section infants exhibited a higher abundance of Veillonella and Neisseria during the first days of life. Regarding nutrition, mixed feeding (MF) infants showed higher proportions of Rothia, Prevotella, and Veillonella during the initial months. Conversely, Streptococcus remained significantly predominant in infants receiving breast milk (EBF/BM-NF) at the 6-month mark.

Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that delivery mode and lactation significantly shape the neonatal oral ecosystem. Specific microbial signatures up to 12 months suggest that early-life factors and feeding choices are key in establishing the mature oral microbiota.