teen breast-feeding

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi All! I'm writing a paper on promoting breast-feeding amongst teen mothers. I also have to focus on primary, secondary and tertiary prevention but am having difficulty figuring out how to use tertiary prevention among breast-feeding teen mothers. I figured that primary prevention can be education with a focus on the benefits of breast-feeding. Secondary prevention can be early detection of a teen mother who chooses not to breast-feed and intervene appropriately as to why she chooses not to. I'm not sure how to use tertiary prevention...any ideas would be appreciated. Thank you :)

I totally agree with the above. I have two high school age sisters who both have friends who have children. And the biggest complaint I heard was that they were concerned with the negative image that went along with it. And they were concerned with how they would look afterwards. Another thing to think about is that in some states an employer(who has more than 30 employees) has to give a woman an alotted space that is private for breast feeding or pumping. There may not be those rules or space for that in most Jr. highs and High Schools. If there was a designated area, it may not be so frowned upon by the younger crowd.

Can they pump in the nurse's office?

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I think it's kind of selfish for these teens to care more about their appearance or the inconvenience than the health of their babies.

Another good reason to put off motherhood until adulthood.

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Support group sounds like a good idea-depending on the dynamics of the group. Sometimes, groups can be "cliquish"...My daughter was unmarried when her son was born, and when she went to Lamaze class, (with a friend), she was made to feel something of an outcast-she was in her mid twenties, so it wasn't a "teen pg" thing.... At any rate, ongoing support is essential...

Why did anyone at Lamaze need to know her marital status?

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It may be "selfish," but it's also age appropriate. Just because their bodies can reproduce, doesn't necessarily mean that they have maturity. Hopefully, that will come with role modeling, encouragement & support. It happens all too often & the best outcomes are usually the teens that have a good support system. Sometimes that includes people outside of the home as well.

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Why did anyone at Lamaze need to know her marital status?

Had one of those intoduction things.."I'm Jane, this is my husband Larry" things..She really is pretty assertive, but I think emotion got the better of her. Really bad, because knowing about the progression of labor sure helps, before you get there...ended up with emergency C/S, which she handled pretty well. Nursing came easily to she and her son, which was a good thing. Really think it is a great bonding experience.

i like your idea about pumping in the nurses office-I can't imagine why not...

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Speaking as a teen mom who only breastfeed for 6 weeks, the reason I stopped was lack of support and education. In fact, all three of my sons I didn't breastfeed for more then about 6 weeks, I struggled with it around that marks and everyone encouraged me to just stop.

I was young with all my sons, I was 16 when I had my eldest. 20 with my second and 22 with my third. (I had more because I wanted more, not because I didn't have to care for them and I tried to get pregnant with my first, not the best planning but nothing I regret just pointing out I wasn't just careless got pregnant and expected someone else to care for the baby).

Anyway, I had my daughter 2.5 years ago, I was older and a lot more informed with breastfeeding and a lot more confident in my decision, which lead me to be more assertive and not easily persuaded, I lasted 8 months with her and finally had to stop when I was in the hospital for a total of 5 days in 1 week and on lots of medications and she did fine weaning.

Anyway, my point, my biggest barrier when I was a teen mom was support and encouragement and education with nursing.

I had a lot of teen mom friends and most of them did not nurse and I would say it was for most of the same reason and body image, as discussed in previous posts.

Anyway, that's my opinion as a teen mom.

Glad that things clicked with your daughter. I was a teen mom at 18-breastfed my first daughter for only 2 mos-she was not an "easy" baby. Was more successfulwith my oterh 3 kids...

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.
I think it's kind of selfish for these teens to care more about their appearance or the inconvenience than the health of their babies.

Another good reason to put off motherhood until adulthood.

Why not appeal to vanity? Most of the breastfeeding support materials I've seen emphasized that breastfeeding helped Mom lose her baby weight.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I think it's kind of selfish for these teens to care more about their appearance or the inconvenience than the health of their babies.

Another good reason to put off motherhood until adulthood.

Ummmmm it isn't just teens, I have met plenty of 25-35 year old new moms that did not want to nurse because they didn't want their "boobs ruined" and it was to inconvenient and my favorite, "my breasts are for my husband and it isn't fair to him to not be able to mess with them for a year".

It's also not them considering that more important then the health of their baby when you have every one around them even hospitals telling them Formula is perfectly healthy and encouraging them to go on WIC to get free formula, commercials talking about how formula is just as good as breast milk and the big formula companies giving out all these freebies etc. etc.

I don't encourage teenagers to have babies, in fact I have tried to talk to many at risk of becoming pregnant teens. But I was and am a very good mother and I have seen PLENTY of "adults" who had their kids NOT in their teens that are crappy parents.

Ignorance and selfishness aren't segregated by age.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
Glad that things clicked with your daughter. I was a teen mom at 18-breastfed my first daughter for only 2 mos-she was not an "easy" baby. Was more successfulwith my oterh 3 kids...

I know if I would have had a lot more support (breast feeding support) and education I could have nursed all my boys longer. Around the 6 week mark with my daughter I ran into the same humps but with all the new factors I got through it and continued nursing. Now I miss the fact I will never nurse again :( I absolutely LOVED nursing my daughter and I feel guilty about not lasting longer with my sons. I am glad it worked out for you later on :)

Why not appeal to vanity? Most of the breastfeeding support materials I've seen emphasized that breastfeeding helped Mom lose her baby weight.

That would work, I certainly believed it, to bad I gained more weight breastfeeding then I did with my pregnancy and still have not lost it. :stone lol

The good news is, it seems as though breastfeeding is becoming more popular again. At least from what I have noticed with having my daughter opposed to when I had my son 13.5 years ago.

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When I posted my first post, I never thought of the nurses office but it is probably becuase I can from a smaller town and school district and there was only one nurse for all K-12. And since they remodeled our middle school, the nurses office was there and not at our high school on the other side of town. But, there should be no reason that in that situation the staff could let that student use the faculty bathroom. The teachers should be mature enough to suppport that.

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I am a young mother. I had my son when I was 19, I breast fed him for over a year. I honestly don't think that this is young mother/parent issue. I am an assistant orginizer of two different parent groups, ranging from teens to late 40's, singles, married, etc. so people from all over the specturm. The fact is; many women don't breastfeed anymore. No matter the age, our society really does frown on it, and lots of women for whatever reason choose not to do it. Other than that, what I hear from most women is that it hurts too much when they are feading/or your boobs hurt too much when they are not, or it takes down your sex drive.

A good idea for hospitals to promote breatfeeding is getting a lactation consultant into talk to EVERY women that delevers a baby within the first two days of delevery. Have them talk about the healthy ways it helps the baby, the natural immunities, the great vitamens it gives to the early brain development of the child. Have them physically show the new mother how to breastfeed properly. That can have a HUGE impact on how long the mother breastfeeds. In my opinion, as good as formula is, you can never beat what is made in your body for your baby. They can try to copy it in formula, but I just didnt trust it. You can't duplicate it 100%.

When I first started college my son was six months old, when we had break in lecture I would go in the restroom and pump. I had a cooler that was called the "breastfeeding pack" that I would bring with me. It was small cooler that went over the shoulder, that opened at the top...wasnt big at all. It was real simple.

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You've gotten a lot of good suggestions and input. I think the main thing is education.....which unfortunately isn't only lacking in the teen department. People just don't know about the benefits of breastfeeding and the danger of formula use. Adults do this too but teens are more likely to listen to their friends....what kind of advice does another 16 year old have on breastfeeding? So the problem in our society is lack of knowledge about one of the basic human needs.

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