Nearly 40% of women change breastfeeding plans because of childbirth experiences

Almost four in ten women had a childbirth experience, such as pain from a cesarean delivery, that made them change their breastfeeding plans, survey data show.

“Research on this topic has focused primarily on the physical challenges of breastfeeding and issues with the breast,” Henry Chong Lee, MD, a neonatologist at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, said during a pre-recorded poster presentation at the virtual American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting.

He continued, “our goal was to examine more in depth how actual experiences of birth and breastfeeding differed from the mother’s pre-birth intentions and subsequent perceived impact on breastfeeding experience.”

Lee and colleagues surveyed women in the United States (n = 364) and the United Kingdom (n = 1,000). The women had given birth to their youngest child within the past 2 years and had completed breastfeeding their child.

According to the survey, only 36% of mothers in the U.S. and 33% in the U.K. felt that their birth went “very well and to plan.” An even higher proportion — 38% of women from both countries — had birth experiences that negatively impacted their breastfeeding plan. Results showed that about half of respondents could not follow their breastfeeding plan.

Specifically, more women in the U.S. had plans to exclusively feed breastmilk than women in the U.K. (86% vs. 66%), and they breastfed longer than women in the U.K., but despite their intentions, 45% of U.S. mothers used formula in addition to breastmilk at some point in their breastfeeding journey, compared with 58% of U.K. mothers, the researchers reported.

A quarter of women experienced pain that made breastfeeding difficult, the survey showed. Cesarean sections were a significant reason for this pain, researchers said, affecting 55% of women in the U.S. and 75% of women in the U.K.

Pain when picking up their baby, affecting more than 60% of women, was the most common issue, followed by pain when sitting to feed, which more than half of women experienced.

“Pain related to birth may be an under-considered factor in early cessation of breastfeeding,” Lee said. “An increase in support for breast feeding after c-section may positively impact breastfeeding outcomes in this population.”