Abstract
AimTo explore the experiences of women from three population groups of immediate skin-to-skin contact (SSC) with their newborn babies.MethodA mixed methods approach was adopted in a phenomenological study to elicit the experiences of English, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women. Audiotaped diaries, semi-structured interviews, photographs and video recordings were employed. Concept mapping was central to data analysis.ResultsThis paper reports novel findings that women contextualized and accepted secretions and bodily fluids from birth. This contradicts the beliefs of midwives that Asian women find bodily secretions abhorrent and culturally unacceptable. All participants reported positive experiences of SSC despite varying degrees of soiling from birth fluids.LimitationsThe study was conducted in a single setting, and participants may not have been representative of others in their cultural groups. Third-party translation may have added an unsought layer of interpretation. The imposition of cultural expectations by peers in the recruitment process excluded some potential participants.ConclusionStereotypical assumptions about cultural background often characterize professional responses. When this stereotyping was put aside, women of all three cultures, whether breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, were able to enjoy SSC with their babies.Implications for Nursing and Health PolicyThe findings suggest that changes will be needed in professional practice to be more open to women's expressed preferences, in local policy to ensure that choices are made clear and are available, and in national strategic direction to ensure widespread adoption of positive practices for opportunities to increase breastfeeding, promote parent–child bonding and support patient choice to be realized.
Highlights
In the UK, policies have been introduced to reform maternity services, aiming to plan and deliver care that is more responsive to the needs of individual women and their families (Royal College of Midwives (RCM) 2008)
Interpretive phenomenology is concerned with the interpretation of the structures of people’s experiences and how things are understood by people who live through an experience
Findings and discussion In this study, mothers and babies clearly interacted with each other; the baby elicited responses from the mother, and the mother explored, touched, smelled and nurtured her infant intuitively
Summary
In the UK, policies have been introduced to reform maternity services, aiming to plan and deliver care that is more responsive to the needs of individual women and their families (Royal College of Midwives (RCM) 2008). This desire for cleanliness supersedes the importance of supporting families, helping mother and baby to develop a nurturing, intimate bond This attachment between the mother and the infant starts in pregnancy and is built upon in the early postnatal period during periods of unrestricted SSC (Allen & Duncan Smith 2008, Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People’s Services 2010, Strathearn et al 2009). Both Sheridan (1999) and Price (2006) recognized that some midwives would resist change in practices that were supportive of SSC and would base their resistance on an argument that SSC was abhorrent to non-Westernized women and on the expectation of increased workload for the midwife. There is little research evidence, of the responses of women from different cultural backgrounds
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