Breast Milk Feeding for Infants Who Required Major Surgery

To identify barriers or facilitators that influenced mothers to provide mother's own milk (MOM) for 6 months to their infants who were hospitalized in the NICU after major surgery.

Descriptive qualitative.

An 80-bed, Level 4 NICU of a regional pediatric hospital in the western United States.

Fourteen mothers who provided MOM for their infants who required surgery within 1 week of age.

We conducted in-person interviews upon admission and discharge of the infant, phone interviews 1 and 2 weeks after discharge, and phone interviews monthly for 6 months or until discontinuance of the provision of MOM. We analyzed interviews using the Brooks thematic template analysis method.

Eleven infants received exclusive MOM at discharge, and nine infants remained on exclusive MOM at 6 months. We generated four principal themes from the participants' comments: Value of Breast Milk, Challenges of Providing MOM, Emotional Fluctuation, and Coping With Reality of Circumstances.

Internalizing the value of MOM, family support, and coping with barriers were key factors that influenced participants to provide MOM for at least 4 months. Findings of this study suggest that prenatal education with anticipatory guidance and lactation support in the NICU can help mothers achieve the goal of extended provision of MOM to infants with serious conditions that require surgery. Education and support may be especially helpful for young, first-time mothers.