Open AccessHuman milk‐sharing practices and infant‐feeding behaviours: A comparison of donors and recipients
Author(s) -
Peregoy Jennifer A.,
Pinheiro Giovana M.,
Geraghty Sheela R.,
Dickin Katherine L.,
Rasmussen Kathleen M.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
maternal and child nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1740-8709
pISSN - 1740-8695
DOI - 10.1111/mcn.13389
Subject(s) - medicine , breastfeeding , psychosocial , population , infant feeding , lactation , demography , environmental health , pediatrics , pregnancy , psychiatry , sociology , biology , genetics
Human milk sharing (HMS) is growing in popularity as an infant‐feeding strategy in the United States. HMS families are a hidden population because HMS is a nonnormative and stigmatized behaviour. Thus, gaining access to HMS participants is challenging, and research on this topic remains limited. In particular, little is known about the broader infant‐feeding behaviours of HMS parents. This study aimed to describe and compare the infant‐feeding behaviours and HMS practices among a network of HMS donors and recipients. A detailed online survey was distributed to HMS parents in the Washington, DC region. Bivariate analyses were used to summarize the data by donor/recipient status when possible. Group differences were tested using analysis of variance for continuous variables and χ 2 tests for categorical variables. Donors and recipients did not differ in their sociodemographic characteristics. Recipients were significantly more likely than donors to have experienced complications of labour and delivery, traumatic birth, postpartum depression or a negative breastfeeding experience. Donors and recipients did not differ significantly in their duration of lactation or HM‐feeding. Interestingly, 30% of recipients ever produced excess milk and 21% of donors ever had difficulty producing enough milk for their child. Compared with donors, recipients faced numerous maternal health challenges, but were still able to achieve a long duration of HM‐feeding. HMS recipients represent a vulnerable group who may benefit from additional psychosocial and lactation support to improve their health and breastfeeding outcomes. Additional research is needed to investigate the associations between HMS participation, infant‐feeding behaviours and lactation outcomes.