Introduction
Breastfeeding is a highly recommended mode of nutrition for infants. Unfortunately, many mothers experience issues in breastfeeding, forcing them to rely on formula and other vitamin supplements to provide nutrition for their children. Although the healthcare system has battled issues of maternal health and nutrition for decades, the Coronavirus pandemic aggravated associated challenges since it impacted community and institution healthcare service delivery and social work programs put in place to ensure adherence to the appropriate nutritional habits. As a result, most medical health institutions have noted an increase in malnutrition cases of children less than six months to one-year-old. That being said, a study to investigate how the Coronavirus pandemic has influenced maternal nutrition and the factors contributing to these outcomes is crucial to developing reliable solutions to curb negative implications. Therefore, the following proposal details a plan to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on maternal nutrition, breastfeeding habits, and maternal health-seeking behaviors. Nevertheless, the hypothesis proposes that the pandemic has had a generally negative impact on these factors by increasing the workload of health institutions and introducing several limitations in healthcare and social work access.
Literature Review
Breastfeeding is an exclusively recommended method to feed infants and newborns because breast milk contains all the nutrients and vitamins required by the developing body to perform at optimal levels. However, breast milk is also advisable due to its high antibody content, which lays a firm foundation for the infant’s immune response and immune system development. Unfortunately, lactating mothers admit that they have different experiences with breastfeeding, which might be encouraging or discouraging (Komninou et al., 2017). For example, most women prefer not to breastfeed in public or social places, while some women seem to have no problem with it. Subsequently, complex social, emotional, psychological, and physical factors can interfere with a mother’s ability to breastfeed their child. Therefore, lactating mothers may not observe the recommended practices, thus posing a threat to the health of the newborn. Consequently, mothers may suffer from increased stress and pressure of occasionally visiting medical institutions to address their children’s health issues. Thus, it is essential to prevent these outcomes by creating awareness of the need to breastfeed for at least six months after giving birth.
Before the pandemic, the levels of exclusive breastfeeding were low, but most mothers breastfed their children for more than six months before adopting other solutions like processed food and formula. Studies conducted by Brown (2017) in 2015 on the habits of lactating mothers suggest that about half of them (51.8%) breastfed their children for six months, while only 22.3% practiced exclusive breastfeeding. Nevertheless, community health programs and healthcare service delivery have gone through several changes over the past few years, suggesting that women’s breastfeeding habits have been altered. Although processed food supplements and vitamins may support healthy growth, naturally synthesized antibodies from the mothers’ blood are unmatched and irreplaceable because they allow babies to adapt to the risk factors in their immediate environment (Komninou et al., 2017). Therefore, children who depend on multivitamins might grow and develop normally like other children but may exhibit diminished resistance to infections and medical risks in the environment. Therefore, social workers should make it a priority to identify the factors that interfere with lactating mothers’ breastfeeding habits to provide solutions to keep their babies healthy.
Mothers’ ability to comprehensively breastfeed their babies depends on several critical components. One of the most critical factors that determine a mother’s breast milk supply is her nutritional practices because efficient milk production relies on the appropriate supplementation of nutrients, vitamins, and fluids into lactating mothers’ body system. Therefore, without appropriate eating practices, it becomes increasingly difficult to breastfeed during this period, which can have adverse effects on a lactating baby’s and mother’s health. However, lactating mothers are exposed to several other issues, including mental and emotional factors that could adversely impact their nutrition and health-seeking behaviors (Komninou et al., 2017). For example, the quality of social and personal relationships that women experience can come in the way of their feeding habits and either encourage or discourage them from breastfeeding their infants. Therefore, considering the environmental factors can alleviate the issues these women face.
The process of giving birth and its success levels are also crucial in determining whether a mother will sustain the habit of breastfeeding after giving birth. For example, Keenan-Devlin et al. (2019) report that preterm delivery is associated with lower levels of exclusive breastfeeding during the initial six months after conception. Generally, babies born during their preterm periods require higher levels of care than babies born normally, thus limiting the time spent with their mothers during the first few months. Therefore, the separation can discourage mothers from breastfeeding as they will not adapt like other mothers. Additionally, some mothers experience severe pain after birth, including excruciating pain in the womb or around their nipples, which can prevent them from breastfeeding during the lactation period (Komninou et al., 2017). However, most of these issues can be managed with sufficient social care and advice from health practitioners.
Unfortunately, the Coronavirus pandemic has significantly limited the ability of social workers and medical practitioners to address these issues. Apart from utilizing the much-needed resources to support public health initiatives, the pandemic also discourages people from visiting health institutions due to the fear of contracting the virus. Thus, the proposed research aims to examine the implication of Covid-19 on women’s breastfeeding and nutrition to help health service practitioners devise solutions that will encourage the adoption of recommended nurturing habits.
Methodology
This section describes the proposed research approach for the project and the tools required to conduct successful research. According to Patten & Newhart (2017), the methods section of a study is vital because it informs researchers whether the applied techniques meet the study’s demands and allows for the incorporation of more efficient approaches to ensure positive outcomes. Moreover, the methodology informs researchers whether the research questions and objectives are relevant and reasonable. The research will focus on the factors that limit mothers from breastfeeding their children during the Covid-19 period. Therefore, the research will adopt a qualitative and quantitative study approach since both approaches provide reliable and relevant information.
Research Questions
The following research questions will guide the study:
- How have breastfeeding practices changed after the Coronavirus pandemic?
- How has the pandemic altered women’s perception of breastfeeding?
- What implications does the pandemic have on maternal health-seeking behaviors?
Therefore, the research design will follow a format that allows the gathering of data about these questions to determine how the pandemic has influenced breastfeeding and nurturing behaviors.
Research Design and Rationale for Design
The research seeks to obtain both numerical and qualitative data about the underlying factors that interfere with exclusive breastfeeding in lactating mothers and the limitations these mothers face during the Covid-19 period. Therefore, the research will adopt both qualitative and quantitative research approaches to investigate the number of women reporting in hospital institutions with infant nutritional issues and the perceptions of women who have given birth on breastfeeding and visiting medical institutions during the pandemic period.
Data Collection Methods
The proposed research will adopt both qualitative and quantitative solutions to obtain data for analysis due to the mixed-method research design. Hence, the researcher will adopt online survey techniques and issue questionnaires to get qualitative feedback from participants. Online survey solutions and questionnaires are practical and effective because of the limited movement of individuals. However, for the quantitative data, the research will obtain hospital records from several maternal clinics, which will be compared to data collected over the previous years, before the pandemic. The research seeks to obtain critical patient information from these records, which is relevant to the main purpose and objectives of the research.
Population Sampling and Rationale
The intended population sample for the study includes lactating mothers in the community and mothers nurturing children from birth to the first year. The study focuses on the impact of Covid-19 on this population. Therefore, obtaining data using structured interviews and online surveys will provide relevant information to determine the contributing and limiting factors. However, the research will limit the study group to 100 participants to ease data collection and analysis. In addition, the study aims to retrieve hospital records from maternal clinics and medical institutions in the region to expand its scope and analyze trends on a larger scale. The data obtained will comprise the number of births over a given time, health indicators in children between 0 to 1 years old, and the rates of hospital visits during the first year of birth.
Data Analysis Techniques
The data obtained from the study will be coded and presented in tables according to the identified variables and associated factors. However, the data obtained from the quantitative methods will be analyzed using SSPS to determine trends and the relationship between various variables as identified by the qualitative data (Patten & Newhart, 2017). Subsequently, the results from the data will be evaluated for relevance and any omissions, and then presented in the form of computerized tables and charts.
Potential Limitations
One of the potential limitations the research might face is obtaining personal information from clinics and hospitals. However, the researcher plans to communicate with relevant authorities and provide reasons why the research is critical. Subsequently, the research will use the appropriate channels to obtain this information and any other relevant information that might assist in the analysis and discussion. Moreover, the research might incur a high budget due to movement cessation and other limitations, but the researcher will prioritize the most essential processes to obtain conclusive information from the study.
Summary and Conclusion
The Coronavirus pandemic has halted several business processes, resulting in unprecedented shifts in individuals’ way of life. However, issues like maternal health and nutrition have been neglected because they do not offer an immediate threat to societal development. Nevertheless, appropriate breastfeeding and nurturing habits are critical for the positive advancement of the coming generations. Therefore, it is vital to investigate the implications of Covid-19 on nurturing and breastfeeding practices to recommend reliable solutions for improved outcomes. Therefore, the proposed research seeks to adopt a mixed-research methodology using qualitative and quantitative techniques to collect data. Although the research proposes that Covid-19 has had a negative implication on breastfeeding and nurturing habits, the research will uncover the factors that contribute to these outcomes. Thus, it is vital for policy formulation and decision-making to enhance the health and wellness of mothers, their children, and the community.
References
Brown, A. (2017). Breastfeeding as a public health responsibility: A review of the evidence. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 30(6), 759-770.
Keenan-Devlin, L. S., Awosemusi, Y. F., Grobman, W., Simhan, H., Adam, E., Culhane, J.,… & Borders, A. E. (2019). Early term delivery and breastfeeding outcomes. Maternal and child health journal, 23(10), 1339-1347.
Komninou, S., Fallon, V., Halford, J. C. G., & Harrold, J. A. (2017). Differences in the emotional and practical experiences of exclusively breastfeeding and combination feeding mothers. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 13(3), e12364.
Patten, M. L., & Newhart, M. (2017). Understanding research methods: An overview of the essentials. Routledge.