Experience of donating breastmilk within the process of grief
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Bereaved mothers’ experience of donating breastmilk within the process of grief: an interpretative phenomenological study
IRAS ID
289894
Contact name
Pauline Adair
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
Maternal grief has been shown to produce many difficult emotions such as envy, jealousy and guilt (Erlandsson et al. 2011). Whilst there are many ways grieving can be assisted i.e. having strong social support and finding positive coping strategies, this study aims to explore mother’s experience of donating breastmilk in the process of grief and how this might shape mothers’ understanding of their loss.
Those eligible for the study will be mothers who have suffered the death of an infant either in late pregnancy or early infancy and who have donated their breastmilk following this loss. It is hoped that interviews will take place within the homes of participants, additionally, the option of remote interviews (telephone/video) will be made available in light of COVID UK Government guidelines. The participants will undergo a semi-structured interview which will last no longer than 90 minutes. A distress protocol will be utilised as and when necessary.
Through undertaking this research, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of perinatal loss and how breastmilk donation influences the grieving process. We will use an interpretive phenomenological analytic approach to gain an insider’s perspective whilst asking the question; ‘What is a bereaved mothers experience of donating breastmilk within the process of grief?’.Summary of Results
: Perinatal loss is a devastating event for any mother. What is often overlooked is a mothers continued ability to lactate following the death of her child. Donor breast milk is a commodity highly sought after given its value for feeding sick babies resident in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. This study aimed to explore the lived experience of mothers who have expressed and donated their breast milk following the loss of their infant. Seven bereaved mothers who donated milk to the Human Milk Bank in Northern Ireland were recruited. These women took part in semistructured interviews, which explored their experiences of perinatal loss and the role that expression/donation played for them in their grief. Their accounts were analysed using a qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method.
After transcription and analysis, three superordinate themes emerged; (1) fulfilling the mother role; (2) the power of being able to ‘Do’; (3) making good from the bad.
The stories of these women reflect the independent and individual nature of grief.
Each mother gained a great deal of comfort in having the ability to express milk. For some this created a physical connection to their child, for others, it created time alone to process what had happened and for all, it created a sense of autonomy and ownership in what was otherwise a very turbulent time in their lives.REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
21/NI/0029
Date of REC Opinion
26 Feb 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion