Analysis of the Concept of Successful Breast-Feeding

There is no comprehensive definition of successful breastfeeding that consequently leads to failure in identification of ineffective breastfeeding and clinical problems that, in turn, result in infants’ early hospitalization. The present study aimed to describe the concept of successful breastfeeding using Walker and Avant approach.

CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, Medline and Google Scholar databases were searched for literature published between 1995 and 2015 using the term successful breast-feeding.

To analyse the concept of successful breastfeeding in this study, Walker and Avant approach was used. Primary research was conducted by searching for “successful breastfeeding” and “infant”. Finally, 84 resources were selected as the sample. Then, the data were classified as characteristics, influencing factors, incidences, consequences, and empirical referents related to successful breastfeeding.

Four basic characteristics of successful breastfeeding, as an interactive process, included how to hold the infant while breastfeeding, how to put the breast in the infant's mouth, sucking, and transmission of milk from mother to infant. Moreover, some events related to successful breastfeeding contain “infant's posture during breastfeeding”, “physiology and anatomy of the breast”, and “physiology and anatomy of infant's mouth”. The consequences were also “infant's behaviour when s/he is full”, “leaving the breast”, “not responding to sucking reflex”, “seemingly calm infant”, and “lack of pain and discomfort in the breast”.

The study results revealed that determining the characteristics, events, and consequences of successful breastfeeding is very essential and important for both clinical application and nursing discipline purposes. In fact, precise definition of the concept of successful breastfeeding leads to identification of the related problems and provision of strategies to solve them.