Barriers to Breastfeeding in Disasters in the Context of Iran Publisher Pubmed



Mirmohamadaliie M^{1, 2} ; Khani Jazani R¹ ; Sohrabizadeh S¹ ; Nikbakht Nasrabadi A²
Source: Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Published:2019

Abstract

Introduction Natural disasters have many effects on vulnerable groups, especially infants and children. Protecting breastfeeding in disasters is important, because artificial feeding puts a lot of risk to the child. In disasters, artificial nutrition is dangerous to children and its supplementation requires special equipment. There is little information on the nutritional status of infants after disasters in Iran.Problem The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers to appropriate lactation after disasters in Iran.Method This was a qualitative study using a content analysis method. A total of 19 midwives with disaster-relief experiences were approached for interview. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was performed using the Graneheim's approach.Results The categories of maternal factors, neonatal factors, management factors, and context-base factors were extracted from the data.Conclusion The challenges of social support, mothers' self-efficacy, educated staff for disasters, and privacy for breastfeeding can be considered as important barriers to breastfeeding in disasters. Training programs, as well as health system support, can help overcome the breastfeeding barriers in disasters. MirMohamadaliIeM, Khani JazaniR, SohrabizadehS, Nikbakht NasrabadiA. © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2019.