Factores condicionantes de la lactancia materna en tiempos de COVID 19

Abstract

Objective: to identify the conditioning factors for implementation and duration of breastfeeding during COVID-19 from the perspective of midwives from the Castellón province (Spain).Methods: a qualitative study conducted in 2021 through four focus groups (FGs) with midwives from the Castellón province. Data collection was carried out via videoconferences with audio recording, which were transcribed for subsequent discourse analysis with the Atlas Ti program.Results: the enablers for breastfeeding identified by midwives were the promotion of breastfeeding for mothers and the development of access to resources to solve troublesome situations, among others. They reported as barriers the maternal beliefs regarding feeding with artificial formulas based on their biography, a biased social consideration on breastfeeding, lack of protocols for colostrum extraction, and deficient quality of information in social networks, mostly. They acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic had positive and negative impacts on breastfeeding. Some measures came up to optimize breastfeeding promotion, such as an increase in the midwife/pregnant mother ratio, home care 24 hours after discharge, unification of protocols among centres, extending to six months the time for incorporation to work, and adaptation of breastfeeding promotion in social networks.Conclusions: conditioning factors for breastfeeding were reported, originating in the Spanish sociosanitary scenario, which are useful as the basis for designing specific promotion actions. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breastfeeding must be considered in situations of prolonged lockout of mothers.