Pros And Cons Of Breastfeeding

This literature will be critically analyzing a journal article which was written by Johnson et al (2012) titled ‘maintaining the maternal body: expressing milk as a way of negotiating the demands and dilemmas of early infant feeding’. The aim of the journal was to provide detailed experiences of women who, after delivery and with no medical complications were engaged in breastfeeding. This literature will fill the gap by assessing the study and compared with other studies carried out by other researchers on the demands and dilemmas of breastfeeding.

Johnson et al. (2012) carried out a longitudinal study from 2006 to 2007 using convenient and theoretical sampling method for the gathering of data for the research. The participants were between

First, research finding from both Johnson et al (2012) and Spencer et al (2014) shows a high degree of internal reliability. Though different methods of analytical approaches were adopted by both researchers in analyzing data generated, findings were similar. Secondly, the research provides the needed sample size of the topic and was able to give an in-depth knowledge of the experiences faced by mothers after childbirth. These findings from Johnson et al was grounded in an already existing theory which makes the research externally valid and generalized. Thirdly, due to the duration of the study, it is uncertain if all the participants continued with the research. Participants dropping out will have an adverse effect on the study thus leading to high attrition in the experiment. Fourthly, the study carried out by Johnson et al 2012) lacks cultural diversity. Furthermore, Johnson et al (2012) research findings were based on an already grounded feminist construct rather than the experiences of the participants during the course of the study. Lastly, it was clear that participants were determined to continue feeding, but lacked support from midwives. Not much was said with the assistance given to the breastfeeding mothers on coping and how often these breastfeeding mothers were supervised during the study. As a result of these, participants perceived breastfeeding as lack of freedom, discomfort, a moral justification of a good mother and pain. On the contrary, pain can be perceived and interpreted differently by various