Systemic interactions in breastfeeding families
By: by Karen Epstein-Gilboa.
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 419
ISBN-13: 9780494218808
Subjects: Breastfeeding -- Psychological aspects.; Mother and child.; Parent and child.; Family.; Child development.
Description: The aim of this study was to investigate and describe systemic interactions in nursing families. The participants in this study were families who engaged in physiologically based nursing patterns and key informants who were familiar with similar families. Actively nursing families were observed in their natural home environments during at least three home visits, and one family was observed over a four-year period. Interviews with and observations of the families were recorded via audio and videotape. Data were transcribed and organized into case studies. The second group of key informants consisted of members of present and former nursing families, and lay and professional counsellors who provided descriptions of nursing families. Data from this group were gathered through phone and personal interviews that were recorded, transcribed and organized into categories for review. The findings from both groups of participants were compiled, providing insight into family interaction associated with nursing.The interactions in the families that were studied were influenced by each family's unique style and evolving family themes and patterns associated with nursing that reverberated throughout the system. Themes of reverence for physiological processes, perspectives of nursing as normal and encompassing, and respect for and sensitivity to children's needs and individual rhythms were associated with the development of nursing relationships based on child-initiated cues. Parents' attuned responses to children's cues for nursing and proximity evolved into an overall sensitive parenting style extending beyond nursing and early childhood. Children mirrored the sensitivity that they experienced in their relationships, contributing to an overall sensitive family style. The circulation of themes and patterns associated with the development of sensitivity through nursing was influenced by complementary parenting task allocation, open communication patterns and tutoring. Unresolved couple discord and closed communication interfered with these processes and was expressed through distancing behaviours, the use of artificial pacifiers, and naming nursing as feeding. This study concluded that interactions in the nursing sub-system affect and are influenced by overall systemic interchanges, and seem to facilitate the development of a sensitive family style.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-01, Section: B, page: 0669.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 389-419).

Electronic version licensed for access by U. of T. users.