A balancing act-midwives' and public health nurses' experiences with breastfeeding counselling.

Aims and objectives: To explore midwives' and public-health nurses' experiences of breastfeeding counselling in order to provide a deeper insight into breastfeeding counselling.

Methodological design and justification: A qualitative design was used, and qualitative content analysis was conducted to analyse the data in accordance with the phenomenological hermeneutic tradition.

Ethical issues and approval: The Norwegian Centre for Research Data approved this study. All participants provided written consent.

Research methods: Four focus-group interviews were conducted on a sample of eight midwives and 13 public-health nurses in Norway.

Results: Three interrelated themes describing the meaning of midwives' and public-health nurses' experiences with breastfeeding counselling emerged from the analysis: Breastfeeding Counselling Means Responsibility for Collaboration and Facilitation, Being Confident as a Breastfeeding Counsellor Means Striving for Professional Competence and Supporting the Individual Breastfeeding Family Means Being Sensitive and Adapting to Novel Situations.

Study limitations: The focus groups comprised a mix of midwives and public-health nurses, which may have inhibited honest declaration of these professionals' opinions of each other.

Conclusion: Midwives and public-health nurses regard structural factors and prioritising breastfeeding support in society as important for providing good breastfeeding counselling. Midwives and public-health nurses strive to find a balance between relying on their own competence, promoting breastfeeding in accordance with guidelines and respecting mothers' choices. Healthcare professionals require knowledge about breastfeeding, good clinical judgement, a listening attitude and openness to how breastfeeding affects mother's everyday life to provide good breastfeeding care.