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Exploration Of African American Women’S Infant Feeding Choices, Karen Marie Robinson, Leona Vandevusse

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

It is well documented in the literature that breastfeeding is more beneficial for infants and mothers than is formula feeding. Yet, African-American women are least likely to initiate and continue breastfeeding compared to other ethnic groups. Few studies have examined African-American women's infant feeding choices from the women's perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this

exploratory study was to examine African-American women's infant feeding choices with individual narrative interviews at 3 weeks postpartum. Five African-American women participated. After coding and analyzing the narrative interviews, three major themes with sub-themes emerged that identified influencing factors on participants' choices and their opinions about …