Lack Of Breastfeeding Among Working Mothers

The nursing stage is the most crucial time in a person's life for growth and development, and nourishment is crucial during this time for a newborn. Breastfeeding has also been linked to reduce the incidence of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and obesity in females. Objective: To ﬁnd out whether women are aware that non-feeding females are more likely to develop obesity, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer. Methods: Data were gathered from female patients at Sheikh Zaid Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan. Non-probability convenient sampling with a sample size of 100 was used in this comparative investigation. Results: The ﬁndings revealed that 19 women knew not nursing might result in ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and obesity, whereas 81 women did not had any idea. Also, the ﬁndings showed that, in contrast to 94 women, only 6 women were exclusively nursing their kid for 6 months. The research indicate that while 22 women did not believe that lack of time is a barrier to breastfeeding, 78 women did. Lastly, the data also reveals that 83 women believed that working may make it diﬃcult to breastfeed, whereas 17 women did not. Conclusion: The longer a woman breastfeeds, the greater her protection against breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and obesity. The lack or limited lifetime duration of breastfeeding that is typical of women in these countries is primarily to blame for the high frequency of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and obesity in industrialized nations.


INTRODUCTION:
Guarantying that children grow, develop, and reach their full potential, adequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood is crucial [1]. Since breast milk is regarded as the finest source of nutrition for a newborn, it has long been understood that nursing is advantageous for both the mother and the kid. The family, the healthcare system, and the employer are also given economic and social advantages [2]. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that newborns nurse exclusively for the first six months, then continue to breastfeed while consuming supplementary meals until they are two years old or older [3]. In the first six months of life, newborns are only given breast milk, not water, other liquids, tea, herbal remedies, or food, with the exception of vitamins, minerals, or medications. This practise is known as exclusive breastfeeding [4]. In addition to many other advantages, exclusively breastfeeding a baby for the first six months of life lowers the risk of gastrointestinal infections, pneumonia, otitis media, and urinary tract infections in the child while also allowing mothers to quickly regain their pre-pregnancy weight and reduce their risk of Type 2 diabetes [5]. The advantages of mothers also include a decreased risk of cervical cancer, a quicker recovery after birth, and a possible reduced risk of breast cancer [6]. There is also evidence that breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome [7]. 71 percent of breast-feeding mothers in the United States and 35 percent manage to continue for at least 6 months [8]. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the knowledge of reduced risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and obesity and breastfeeding among women. The findings also showed the awareness among women having knowledge for exclusively breastfeeding their children for 6 months with frequency distribution of lack of time as a barrier for breastfeeding.

METHODS:
Study was conducted at the females visiting Sheikh Zaid hospital Rahim Yar Khan, to find out if the are aware that not breastfeeding children can increase their risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and obesity. Nonprobability convenient sampling with a sample size of 100 was used in this comparison investigation. Women from other hospitals and uncooperative women were added to the exclusion criteria, while nursing women attending Sheikh Zaid hospital Rahim Yar Khan were included in the inclusion criteria. While conducting the study, the ethical guidelines established by The University of Lahore's ethics committee were adhered to, and the participants' rights were respected. Data were gathered by the researcher using a data collection instrument (questionnaire/Performa) and in accordance with the variables of the questionnaire after obtaining informed written consent. With the use of SPSS version 21.0, data were tabulated, examined, and presented using descriptive and inferential statistics. The trial lasted for four months.

RESULTS
The results showed that 19 women had knowledge about not breastfeeding can cause ovarian cancer, breast cancer and obesity and 81 women didn't as shown in figure 1. The results depicted that only 6 women were exclusively breastfeeding their child for 6 months whereas 94 women weren't as shown in figure 2. The results represented that 78 women think that lack of time is a barrier for breastfeeding whereas 22 women didn't as shown in figure 3. The results shows that 83 women thought that working may become a barrier to breastfeed whereas 17 women didn't as shown in figure 4. Lack of breastfeeding among working mothers DOI: https://doi.org/10.54393/mjz.v1i2.14 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ P a g e |

DISCUSSION
Failure to breastfeed is linked to an increased risk of premenopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, retained pregnancy weight gain, and myocardial infarction and obesity in women.
Obstetricians are in a unique position to advise mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding for their health and to make sure that mothers and newborns receive adequate, evidence-based care from the moment of delivery [9]. In this study, the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and obesity was evaluated in non-breastfeeding females.
Our results showed that only 19 women had knowledge about not breastfeeding can cause ovarian cancer, breast cancer and obesity and 81 women did not had any idea. Similarly, collaborative group of hormonal factors in breast cancer showed that the relative risk of breast cancer reduced by 43 percent (95 percent, p <0.0001) for every year of nursing [10]. Likewise, a study conducted by Silva et al., found out that women who breastfed for at least 24 months throughout the course of their lives had a considerably decreased chance of developing breast cancer than those who did not (OR = 0.40; 95 percent CI = 0.22, 0.73) according to a multivariate study. Women who nursed for 12-23 months had a 66.3 percent reduction in breast cancer risk, 24-35 months saw an 87.4 percent reduction, and 36-47 months saw a 94 percent reduction in risk when compared to 0-11 months of lifetime nursing. Breast cancer risk was also shown to be lower in children who breastfed on average for less than 12 months (OR = 0.52; 95% CI = 0.28, 0.94) [11]. Su et al., conducted a study on Chinese women to determine the influence of ovarian cancer in females. He thus concluded that prolonged breastfeeding is linked to a decreased incidence of ovarian cancer [12]. In addition, Baker et al., showed that breastfeeding was linked to decreased postpartum weight retention across all prepregnancy body mass index groups. These findings imply that, when coupled with gestational weight gain levels of less than 12 kg, nursing as advised might help many women lose weight by six months after giving birth [13]. The results showed us that only 6 women were exclusively breastfeeding their child for 6 months whereas 94 women were not. A cohort study conducted by Rakhshani et al., 2009 on continuing breastfeeding in Southeast Iran. The mean period of exclusive breastfeeding was 5.6 ± 1.3 months and the mean duration of any breastfeeding was 20.8 ± 4.69 months, respectively [14]. Similar results were shown by a study conducted by Al-Benali in 2012 where only 32 (8.3 per cent) participants registered exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months [15]. Similar results were also shown in a study conducted by Oche et al., in 2011. The study showed that a total of 54 (31%) of the mothers had adequate knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding with 94 (53%) of them beginning breastfeeding immediately after birth. Of the mothers only 55 (31%) performed exclusive breastfeeding [16]. Contradictory results were shown in a study conducted by Saeed et al., in 2020. The cross-section analysis examined secondary data from The rate of exclusively breastfeeding was 53.6% [17]. Opposing results were also shown in a study conducted by Chattha et al., in 2016 to check the knowledge of breast feeding and its practices in Sialkot settings where 103 mothers (68.66 per cent) started breastfeeding exclusively [18]. A study conducted by Ghazanfar et al., in 2017 also showed different results that all in all, 1,121(87.9 per cent) women had all their children breastfed exclusively [19]. Similar results were shown in another study conducted by Safdar et al., in 2017. This research was performed in public hospital known as The Children Hospital Lahore. This research reveals that mothers have adequate knowledge of exclusive breast-feeding, lactating mothers have a balanced disposition towards exclusive breast-feeding and bad practice of exclusive breast-feeding (37.8%) [20]. The results showed us that 78 women think that lack of time is a barrier for breastfeeding whereas 22 women didn't. Similar results were seen in a study conducted by Evenson et al., in 2009. Study showed that the most common obstacles to physical activity in the 3-and 12-month postpartum were lack of time (47% and 51% respectively) and childcare problems (26% and 22% respectively). No barrier improved from 3 to 12 months postpartum by more than 5 percent [21]. Figure 4 of the data reveals that 83 women believed that working may make it difficult to breastfeed, whereas 17 women did not. Similar findings were reported by Netshandama who showed that many mothers stop nursing when they return to work because they find it too stressful to think about expressing their milk at work and fumbling with pumps and storage there [22].