It is mentally challenging - Understanding breastfeeding grief during the postpartum period: A qualitative...

African American women are less likely to meet their breastfeeding goals compared to Non-Hispanic White women. Women who do not meet their breastfeeding goals may experience breastfeeding grief which negatively impacts their mental health. Providing therapeutic care and support to these women is likely to be difficult if their experiences of breastfeeding grief are not fully understood.

To explore African American women's experiences of breastfeeding grief.

Using a qualitative descriptive design, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted on Zoom with a purposive sample of 16 African American women who believed they had experienced breastfeeding grief in the United States. Interviews were audio and video recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were uploaded to Dedoose and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Participants' mean age was 29.5 years. Five meaning-based themes of breastfeeding grief were generated. In the first theme, 'breastfeeding did not go as planned', women expressed reluctantly ceasing breastfeeding. The 'so we grieve' theme encompassed breastfeeding grief emotions; sadness being the most common. In the third theme, 'because we grieve', decisions made due to, and the health impact of breastfeeding grief were discussed. The 'we want to understand' theme focused on knowing why women did not meet their breastfeeding goals. Lastly, recommendations to manage breastfeeding challenges and breastfeeding grief were summarised in the 'additional perceptions' theme.

Breastfeeding grief presents with profound sadness and a sense of failure that negatively impacts maternal emotional health. If unaddressed, breastfeeding grief may continue for several years postpartum. Further research is needed to address breastfeeding grief.